Bankruptcy tourism draws debt-stricken Irish

Bankruptcy tourism draws debt-stricken Irish | Business | The Guardian: "Niall is 31 and manager of a successful fruit farm just outside Dublin. He is thinking of emigrating to England – not because he is out of work but because he is so heavily in debt that he wants to declare himself bankrupt.

He bought three houses as a buy-to-let sideline between 2004 and 2006. Although he earned a modest salary of €25,000 a year (less than £17,000 then), the banks gave him two mortgages of more than €300,000 and another one for more than €200,000 – a loan-book worth 32 times his salary.

The fantasy of becoming a property millionaire did not last long and now the farm manager is in negative equity to the tune of €250,000 and with a glut of empty properties on the market, he has no hope of meeting monthly repayments from rent."