Ms Aoife Foley:

Deputy Collins asked about the credit unions. We have worked with the credit unions and An Post, which are the main places where Travellers go to open accounts because there is trust and goodwill there. We have found that one of the biggest issues around opening bank accounts is identification due to the anti-money laundering legislation and the fact that ML10 forms are no longer being filled out by the Garda so people cannot use them as a form of identification. That is a big barrier to opening accounts. There is a big issue within banks. We have spoken to the Irish Banking Culture Board about providing culturally appropriate training to staff because people do not feel comfortable going into banks.

Deputy Collins asked about rent arrears, which is an issue that Deputy Ó Cuív touched on as well. National Traveller MABS has supported a number of different pilot projects and social inclusion funds with different credit unions and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul over the years. When they were evaluated it was discovered that where people used the household budget scheme to make their repayments the rate of arrears was less than 5% so it was quite small. The household budget scheme is only allowed through the Social Welfare Act for rent so a loan payment cannot be taken out of it but we have sought a legal opinion on that. We have been told by the Bar Council that it will require a very small change by the Minister to allow the household budget scheme to be used to make loan repayments as well, which would also dramatically reduce the arrears rate.