Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct in saying that the current contract runs out on 15 February. However, the service is well aware that I am bringing a report on Abhaile to Cabinet in the first or second week in January with a request to extend the service. A memorandum will be brought to Government seeking an extension of the service to the end of 2019. I am particularly proud of the staff of Abhaile and MABS who look after people. The debt cycle is changing. The people who were presenting ten years ago, five years ago and those presenting today are all presenting with different types of debt and MABS has always responded to them equally.

Abhaile was a direct response to the mortgage arrears difficulties being faced by tens of thousands of people. The number of people in difficulty is reducing and 116,000 who were in mortgage arrears have had a solution provided to them that is in line with what they can afford. However, there is still a significant number of people in difficulty who can freely avail of the services of MABS and Abhaile.

The foreign institutions to which Deputy O'Dea just referred which, in many cases, have bought debt from what we call our pillar banks are far easier to deal with and are far quicker to do deals in order to secure debt and keep people in their homes.

See this speech in context