Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will instruct the Money Advice and Budgeting Service to collect statistics on waiting times in order that resources will be provided to the centres with the highest demand. [16979/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. There are 53 independent MABS companies with voluntary boards of management operating the local services throughout the country. In addition, the MABS National Telephone Helpline is available from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., 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. 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.

In 2009, almost €18 million has been provided to fund the service. The additional investment in the MABS in recent years has strengthened the capacity of the service to deal with increased demand for service. There are now 252 money advice staff employed throughout the country and the Telephone Helpline has been strengthened to provide an immediate response to clients seeking information and advice. Applications for extra resources from individual MABS companies are subject to funding being made available and are kept under review.

All 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 and to the website for immediate assistance with budgeting and money management issues. Information is not collected centrally on the waiting times for appointments at different offices. However, I have been advised that the waiting period for less urgent cases ranges from a maximum of approximate eight weeks to as short a period as one week depending on the local service. Local services monitor their waiting times for appointments and, where required, seek guidance in managing their caseload from MABS NDL, the national support company.

The Telephone Helpline assists 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 adviser. The Telephone Helpline can handle less complex straight forward single debt cases such as threatened utility disconnections and deals directly with the ESB and An Bord Gáis in relation to these cases. 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.

MABS NDL has introduced a number of community education and other initiatives to further assist the local services with 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.