Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount of direct Exchequer financial support that has been provided to the Money Advice and Budgeting Service over the past three years; and her views on whether MABS is equipped to deal with the range and volume of cases presenting in the current economic climate. [14887/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is the main Government funded service which provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. There are 53 independent companies with voluntary boards of management operating the local services throughout the country. In addition, the MABS National Telephone Helpline is available from 9am to 8pm Monday to Friday at lo-call number 1890 283 438 and budgeting and money management information can be accessed 24 hours a day at www.mabs.ie.

In 2008, over 16,600 new clients approached the MABS for assistance with debt difficulties and the telephone helpline dealt with almost 11,000 callers. This year 5,200 new clients have approached the service and the telephone helpline has received over 6,280 calls up to the end of March. The MABS companies operate an appointments system for meeting clients. Clients with urgent difficulties are prioritised for attention and dealt with promptly. Less urgent cases are referred to the Telephone Helpline.

In 2009, almost €18 million has been provided to fund the service. The allocations for 2006, 2007 and 2008 were €16.42m, €17.67m and €17.95m respectively. The additional investment in the MABS that has been possible in recent years has strengthened the capacity of the service to deal with the increased demand for service. There are now 252 money advice staff employed throughout the country and the Telephone Helpline, introduced in December 2007 has been strengthened to provide an immediate response to clients seeking information and advice. Over 90% of callers to the Helpline find that their money management and budgeting issues can be resolved with the assistance of the helpline advisor. Some 10% of callers are referred to the local MABS for appointment. The Helpline is further assisting local services manage their appointment lists by providing an initial preliminary MABS service to clients and ongoing support while they await their appointment with their local money advisor.

The money advisors throughout the country focus on providing assistance, advice and intense support to people who have financial difficulties. The money advisor works out a budget, negotiates on behalf of the client with all creditors to secure better terms for the client in managing the repayment of the debts. Where required by the client, the money advisor can assist with setting up a special account with their local Credit Union into which an agreed amount of money is lodged regularly and from which each month the money advisor makes the repayments to the creditors on behalf of the client. They provide ongoing support to people who successfully overcome their financial difficulties.

Focused training programmes designed to equip money advice staff and local management boards to meet the demands on the services are provided by MABS NDL the national support company. In addition, MABS NDL has introduced a number of community education and other initiatives to assist the local services in managing their increased caseloads. These include a money management education programme for people facing redundancy to inform them about managing on a reduced income and how to avoid getting into debt.

I am confident that the MABS is well equipped to provide a high quality personal service to assist people in overcoming their indebtedness and managing their finances. The MABS advises that people coping with debt difficulties should make an approach to the MABS, via any of the channels. This can be the first positive step in addressing debt difficulties.