Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has overall responsibility for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, which provides assistance to people experiencing difficulty in meeting repayments on borrowings. It is now a countrywide service provided by 52 locally based companies limited by guarantee with a budget of €13.62 million. The MABS programme provides money advice, including the publication of information on money management and debt counselling, to individuals and families who have problems with debt, particularly indebtedness to moneylenders, and who are on low incomes or in receipt of social welfare payment. The MABS places an emphasis on practical budget based measures that will succeed in moving people permanently from dependence on moneylenders and other sources of high interest credit. One of the objectives of the MABS is to identify sources of financial services and credit at normal interest rates which can best meet the needs of the target group and facilitate them to access these sources.

Earlier this year, I held a series of meetings with the Irish Bankers' Federation, IBF, the Irish League of Credit Unions, ILCU, and the financial services regulator to discuss the issues of access to financial service and access to credit for those who are financially excluded. The meeting with the IBF focused on the following issues: access to mainstream banking facilities including credit options where appropriate for lone parents and others on welfare or low incomes; responsible lending practices to lone parents and others on welfare or low incomes and a commitment to desist from offering unsolicited loans to those groups; immediate operationalisation of Department of Finance money laundering committee guidance notes regarding customer identification at local branch level; and continued co-operation with the MABS service in dealing with over indebtedness issues when appropriate. The banks agreed to communicate with all retail member banks to ensure staff are reminded of account opening procedures and the attendant customer identification requirements, including the range of documentation which will satisfy these requirements. They also agreed to contact the financial services regulator, IFSRA, to discuss how the authority might help promote its publication, A Guide to Opening a Bank Account. I have been informed by the IBF that it has communicated with member banks and building societies. It has also met the financial regulator on the same issue.

The credit union movement has played a significant role in the development of the MABS. When I met the Irish League of Credit Unions I was given every assurance that it would continue to play its part in assisting persons on welfare and low incomes to become financially included. I also met the financial services regulator who is undertaking research into issues surrounding access to financial services in conjunction with the Combat Poverty Agency. I look forward to this report, which should be available towards the end of this year, and it will be of assistance in further developing appropriate policy responses in relation to financial inclusion. A good working relationship exists between MABS, the IBF, ILCU and the financial regulator. Regular meetings take place regarding access to financial services and also debt recovery practices of the financial institutions. I am confident these initiatives and contacts are helping to tackle the exclusion from access to financial services of people on low incomes.