Howlin: Government still considering hiring private debt collectors
Minister Brendan Howlin said today that the Government is still examining whether or not to use private debt collection agencies to collect money owed to the State.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said the Government may create a centralised service to collect debts, or it may use private agencies.
It is thought that the private debt collectors could be used to chase down unpaid hospital bills, court fines and money owed by social welfare fraudsters.
Minister Howlin said that no decision has been made yet.
"It's an open review," he said.
"Whether we just leave it as is, and let every particular agency, whether it’s the HSE or the Courts Service and so on to contiue as is, or whether we have on centralised agency, as we've just established now for human resource management, what we call a 'shared service', or whether we might look at a private option."
