Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too want to be associated with everything that was said about Ms Heaney's and Ms Burke's presentations. They were very informative. I have a couple of questions. I was particularly struck by the gender imbalance Ms Burke mentioned in her presentation. The figure she gave was 28% of women versus 55% of men. What can we as a committee do to address that imbalance and indeed what is the Pensions Council doing to address it? It is very important for the Oireachtas to address this. Ms Burke might just come back to us on those figures again because they are a worry and were very striking in her opening presentation.

Turning to Ms Heaney, I want to be associated with the Chairman's comments. The Citizens Information Board is a daily tool for every public representative in this country. Without it we would all be lost. There is not a day goes by when I do not refer to the board's website. I have a couple of questions around that. How has social media affected that? I know the board is on Twitter and Facebook. Yesterday I was looking at one of its presentations on social media on derelict houses. There seemed to be a lot of interaction with people through social media. Is that changing the focus of the board? As I said it is a huge resource for us but has social media changed the way the board is interacting with the public? On the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, which does terrific work throughout the country, there was an issue with waiting times for it over the last number of years. Will Ms Heaney comment on that? They differ across the country but the terrific services MABS offers should be availed of by as many people as possible as quickly as possible. It is a most difficult time for people as well. Are those waiting times coming down? Have they been affected by Covid?