Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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153. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of borrowers in mortgage arrears who have availed of financial advice from independent accountants, available under the protocol of the Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11077/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service (MAIAS) was established to provide a comprehensive and coordinated approach to assist people in mortgage arrears or pre-arrears in assessing their options. The service, which differentiates between mortgage information and mortgage advice, has three elements:

- The website which was developed as the key online access portal for general mortgage information and advice and launched in June 2012. To date there has been over 337,000 visits to the site.

- The Mortgage Arrears Information Helpline (phone 0761 074050) established in August 2012, provides general mortgage arrears information and signposting in relation to the Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears and other supports available for those in mortgage arrears or pre-arrears. To date the helpline has dealt with almost 13,000 calls.

- The service to provide independent financial advice to mortgage holders who are being presented with long term mortgage resolution proposals by their lenders was launched in September 2012. The advice is provided by a panel of accountants drawn from members of the main accountancy institutes in Ireland. A county by county panel with over 1,500 participating accountants is in place and their contact details are available on . Borrowers are free to choose their own advisor from this panel and the lender will pay €250 to the accountant of the borrower's choice for the provision of this independent financial advice.

The Central Bank collates the information relating to the number of borrowers who have availed of the independent financial advice service on a quarterly basis, commencing in quarter 1 2013. The data supplied does not relate exactly to the reporting period as there will be delays between the time the lender makes the long-term resolution offer to the borrower, the meeting with the accountant and the receipt by the lender of the invoice. At the end of Q4 2014, 1,207 borrowers have availed of the independent financial advice service.