John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make a suggestion related to the issue of arrears. In my constituency, if people get into arrears with Waterford City Council, after a few weeks they are obliged to go the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, which stops arrears from building up over a long period. Perhaps the Minister could place such an obligation on those who run into difficulties. I understand that there is fraud within the social welfare system, and I do not condone that, but there are many people who have difficulties with money management. I propose that the Minister recommend that all local authorities encourage people to contact MABS at an early stage when they run into arrears. I also urge her to revisit the MABS budget because it does tremendous work. The number of people using the service has quadrupled in recent years and it could do with extra funding. The valuable work it does in terms of money management could stop arrears from building up. It would be simple to instruct the councils to meet those who get into arrears at a very early stage and make an appointment with MABS on their behalf. MABS would be delighted to get involved and the Department would save a lot of money in the longer term by preventing arrears from building up.

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