Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the work the advisers are doing. They are doing tremendous work and I compliment them on that. However, there is a difficulty here. The Minister said that €2.5 million has been allocated and I presume that sum has been allocated to the Citizen's Information Board to pay the dedicated mortgage advisers. However, the advisers' contracts have only been extended until 15 February 2019, even though the sum of €2.5 million covers them for the full year. As a result, they have decided not to take on any new clients from 1 January because their position is uncertain, given that their contracts end on 15 February.

The Minister will be aware that as property values increase and vulture funds purchase more domestic loans, the pressure for repossessions will increase. In that context, MABS has a vital role to play. The situation cannot continue whereby dedicated mortgage advisers who are uncertain about their status are not willing to take on new clients as and from 1 January 2019. I do not need to remind the Minister or the House of recent events in Roscommon.

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