Lisa McDonald (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Hanafin. I have always been a great supporter of MABS and have recommended the service to constituents from whom I received excellent feedback on the help offered on all occasions. Unfortunately, the demand has risen lately. The service should be commended, as it has been today.

MABS provides advice on practical budgets and how to manage budgets. It helps people to move permanently from a dependence on moneylenders, which was the original idea behind the service, and to access alternative sources of low-cost credit. It is a hands-on service that offers more than just advice. MABS staff make telephone calls to the ESB, banks, financial institutions or moneylenders to try to come up with some form of payment arrangement to provide a light at the end of the tunnel for its customers. It is a hugely valuable service that is often accessed by people who do not have the communications skills or objective financial expertise to navigate through the hard times.

The service has the full support of both Houses of the Oireachtas. I add my voice to the plaudits to the former Minister, the late Séamus Brennan. He allocated €13.62 million to MABS last year, which was a substantial increase on the previous allocation. He also made an additional €700,000 available to MABS companies to help them develop more innovative ways of tackling indebtedness. I have great confidence that MABS has focused the special funding to help its clients. The service knows how to help people better than the State and I am confident it will spend the money wisely. MABS provides a solid service and it has helped thousands of people to extract themselves from debt. We have been told 12,000 people have received assistance, which is a sizeable amount, but, unfortunately, there are probably more people who could avail of the service.

In recent days it was brought to my attention that many loan sharks and moneylenders operate in areas of my constituency. They operate in cities in particular and prey on people's worries about their future in this uncertain economic climate. I do not know whether the time of year is a factor but this is a matter of major concern. I have only anecdotal evidence but perhaps the Minister can keep an eye on the situation to see whether there is anything she can do about it. Last year the Government ran a two-week radio advertising campaign from 21 January. Perhaps this year a leaflet or media campaign could be undertaken in the pre-Christmas period to allow people to seek advice rather than get themselves into debt because, historically, it has always been a difficult time of year. We must ensure we do not drive people into the hands of moneylenders and do all we can to encourage people to avoid them because they will only end up getting into more debt. It is important to get that point across to people.

I note with concern that approximately two thirds of the 12,000 people assisted by MABS are women. Poverty affects women disproportionately and I would like to see research conducted to gain an understanding of the reasons behind the statistic in order that we can consider possible solutions in the future. We are all aware of people in financial vicious circles who have availed of the service and they are grateful for the help they received from MABS, which operates on a nationwide basis. Generally, those who use the service are on low incomes or social welfare and there is also an education gap. People need advice on how to make ends meet in terms of clothes, fuel, food etc. Often when those essentials are paid for, very little remains.

We should acknowledge the role of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other charities. The former spent approximately €50 million last year helping people on inadequate incomes. If we did not have such voluntary organisations around the country we would be in a worse situation. Their constant work needs to be acknowledged and welcomed.

I believe approximately 46 moneylenders are licensed by the Financial Regulator. They are allowed to charge an annual percentage rate of up to 188% for loans, payments for which are collected each week by an individual who calls door-to-door. I am aware of leaflets produced by some credit unions encouraging people to turn to them rather than to moneylenders. Such promotions have been run by Waterford credit union, Newry credit union, St. Francis credit union in Ennis and Finglas credit union in a bid to wean people away from moneylenders. It is an admission that a problem exists when responsible institutions such as credit unions take an active and positive step in this regard. In this difficult climate I urge the Minister to take steps to bring forward a promotional campaign to ensure that people are diverted away from moneylenders who charge exorbitant rates, especially as we approach Christmas when there are so many demands on low-income households in particular. People are pressurised by the strength of advertising for gadgets, toys, etc. Parents in such households often feel under enormous pressure and it is surely an opportune time to intervene. I would like to see such a measure prioritised by the Government. As we face a tough budgetary climate next year the Minister's resources will be under pressure but I am confident she will endeavour to deal with this issue.