Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend and highlight the fantastic work of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS. It provides an invaluable resource to many of my constituents, as I am sure it does to those of the Minister of State and other Members. I had the pleasure of visiting the MABS office in Ennis recently on the Clare Road, which I understand is one of 60 offices providing this essential service nationally. I met two of the fantastic team of three people there, who informed me that MABS has been operating in County Clare for 31 years. This is something to be very proud of. I was astounded, however, to learn that the office started with three staff 31 years ago and there are still only three staff there. Why is this the case?

MABS informed me that in the past year, demand for its services has increased by a whopping 44%. Given we are at the epicentre of a cost-of-living crisis, no one can envision that number going down this year or next. Interest rates are rising and have been for the past several months. The Cabinet today also announced the end of the eviction moratorium, so our thoughts are now with the individuals and families this decision will impact. MABS will undoubtedly receive a huge influx of queries from people in need and in desperation.

As the Minister of State knows, the Departments of Justice and Social Protection jointly fund the provision of dedicated mortgage advisors in these MABS offices through the Abhaile scheme. In January of this year, the dedicated mortgage adviser in my constituency of Clare handled 115 cases. In the entirety of the previous year, approximately 150 cases had been dealt with. Almost the same number of cases, therefore, were dealt with in one month as in the entire previous year. With all of this in mind, it can only be imagined how angry I was to learn that the funding for these fantastic roles is not certain; far from it. These positions are funded on a year-by-year basis and these terrific mortgage advisers go to work in January not knowing if they will have a job come December. The fact that this scheme is only extended on a 12-month basis, despite the past seven years of the project demonstrating the clear need for permanent State-funded assistance in this area, is madness. Can we not put it in place, and if demand then plummets, that can be addressed? Would that not be a better than what has been happening up until now? That makes sense.

The funding for this current year was only announced in November 2022, even though the announcement was promised in June 2022. To add insult to the injury of this significant delay, it was not announced internally but on the national news instead. There is also the major issue of funding being reduced in 2023. Funding this year was reduced by 20% but inflation has increased by 10%. This means a real-life reduction of more than 30%. This is a serious matter and will have a significant knock-on impact for development spending, such as social research, money management education, planning and evaluation, staff training and development. Caps on specific spending will result in the closure of outreach offices and this is a legitimate fear.

In a response to a recent parliamentary question, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, confirmed that a strategic review of this scheme was ongoing, with a view to being completed by the end of the first quarter of 2023. Now that we are only weeks away from this point, I request an update on where we are with the situation here and now and the Minister of State to confirm whether this scheme will be extended beyond 2023.

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