Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will provide MABSIS data up to the end of November 2008 for each Money Advice and Budgeting Service centre in respect of the number of new clients, the number of new clients earning a wage, the number of new clients with a mortgage and the total and average debt owed by new clients when they first presented to MABS. [45745/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provided services to 15,647 new clients in the period to end November 2008. In addition, 2,303 people sought information about budgeting and money management. The MABS National Helpline, received 9,990 calls to date in 2008 and some 11,500 calls since its launch in October 2007.

The detailed statistical breakdown of clients per centre requested by the Deputy is not readily available from the MABSIS. However the national MABS statistics show that the majority of clients were on social welfare payments (59%), the highest numbers being 2,726 (17%) who were in receipt of the one parent family payment, 2,790 (18%) who were in receipt of jobseekers payments and 2,149 (14%) in receipt of illness/disability payments. Some 28% of clients were in receipt of wages and 3% were self-employed.

Clients mostly lived in rented accommodation, with 26% living in private rented accommodation and 24% in rented local authority accommodation. People with mortgages made up 27% of new clients and 7% lived with parents.

The total owed by new clients in 2008 to creditors, based on the debt they had when they first came to the MABS, amounted to €189 million, which works out at an average amount of €12,100 debt per client. Of the total amount of debt 64% was owed to banks/financial institutions, 16% was owed to credit unions, 3% was owed in respect of utilities bills and 1% was owed to moneylenders.

Information on new clients per MABS company up to the end of September 2008 is detailed in the following table.