Mr. Dermot Sreenan:

I thank the Deputy for his question. If he can forgive me, I will read the answer in order to give us an exact status on the DMA service and the Abhaile service. It was confirmed on 29 November 2022, following a Cabinet meeting, that the Government agreed to the extension of the Abhaile scheme, including the DMA service, for one year to 31 December 2023.

The Government decision from the Cabinet meeting confirmed that Government noted that a strategic review of the Abhaile scheme was being conducted by Indecon on behalf of the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Justice and is on track to be finalised in quarter 1 of 2023; agreed to an extension of the Abhaile scheme, including the dedicated mortgage arrears, DMA, service operated by the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, for one year to 31 December 2023, having regard to emerging findings from the strategic review, which will follow, in accordance with the commitment in the programme for Government for continued access to the important Abhaile services for households in long-term mortgage arrears; and noted that the Ministers for Social Protection and Justice will present a detailed joint memorandum to Government on the future of the scheme in early 2023 based on the strategic review findings. The 2023 grant allocation for the DMA service is €2.246 million. The service delivery companies reported 32 whole-time equivalent temporary dedicated mortgaged arrears advisers at the end of December 2022. The service delivery companies reported a reduced number of dedicated mortgage arrears advisers due to the loss of some of these staff in quarter 4 of 2022. This is partly attributable to the uncertainty associated with the Abhaile scheme and the DMA programme prior to the announcement of its extension on 29 November 2022. The MABS service delivery companies with dedicated mortgage arrears advisers are actively recruiting to fill these vacant positions and support service delivery.

That is the official position with regard to this. Earlier on in this committee meeting, I had the opportunity to speak about that and I draw attention to the line referencing uncertainty related to this position. It has been funded since 2016 and has dealt with more than 13,500 cases. The caseload the Deputy has spoken of is understandable because there are in excess of 3,500 cases being dealt with by 32 individuals. We have lost-----