Most of the 575 workers at the TalkTalk call centre in Waterford who were notified that their jobs will disappear in a brutally short 30 days are more than likely in debt.

Such a young workforce will he heavily weighed down with mortgages, credit cards, personal and credit union loans, hire purchase loans – the list goes on.

They are, of course, far from alone. Unemployment continues to rise with 14.4 per cent of the population out of work as of the end of August, or just under 450,000 people when seasonally adjusted.