Ms Catherine Heaney:

I thank Senator Wall for his comments. There are a couple of questions here. On the one about social media, it has certainly become a bigger agent of communication for the board, particularly over the pandemic. It is something we all must be cognisant of because there is a whole generation which does not consume information the way we all do. Thankfully, there has been growth in the number of people going back to trusted sources of news, such as broadcast news media, for instance. At the same time, the huge growth and the huge interaction is on social media. It is an area where CIB has invested more time and resources, particularly during the pandemic. That presents challenges in itself because as I said in my presentation, while people are using social media more they trust it less. Thus it is really important for us as an organisation to consider that when we are putting out information on social media we are also dealing with misinformation and disinformation on social media. That whole job is becoming bigger and is something we will have to look at resourcing and developing, so I am glad the Senator raised it. It also points to something the Cathaoirleach said on the notion of a one-stop shop and ensuring we are accessible to everybody. As I understand it, CIB ran a pilot last year on an app for people with disabilities and that has been a great success. If pilots are a great success then we must mainstream them and ensure we continue with them. The ways we communicate and the platforms we communicate on will have to extend. We must also ensure people who need face-to-face are getting face-to-face.

On the question about waiting times, I do not have detail to hand on that.

There are a couple of issues worth bringing to the committee's attention. One of the experiences of CIB during the pandemic was that volunteers, on whom we heavily rely, were not in a position to provide services. We are yet to see how things will pan out with the return of volunteers to local services and how they can support them. That is one thing that may impact on our service and we have to ensure that we have consistency of services and that there is no rolling back. Now there are additional platforms that we have to be available on. I already pointed to one innovation, the web chat service. I would be interested to know if it has been effective in dealing with people's queries because there is a whole generation which does not like speaking to people in person or even on the phone. It is about making sure that we are available to people in all formats. I am conscious that increased availability online and with the call-back service may be able to impact on any potential waiting times.

As members will be aware, CIB did make submissions to the Oireachtas during the pandemic. One issue, to which Deputy Ó Cathasaigh already alluded, is that some people suffered greatly in their financial means, including people already on social welfare because the payment pattern changed. That affected budgeting and maintaining basic quality of life at home. As my submission mentioned, as we move out of the pandemic there may be legacy issues around indebtedness. That is something we are very conscious of and we keep a close eye on. Early intervention is the best intervention, a bit like Ms Burke's policy on the pensions, the earlier that you start the better. In money management, the earlier someone gets to grips with their financial situation the more manageable it is in the longer term. I will return to the committee on waiting times.