Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

33. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of her announced independent financial advice service (details supplied); the number of persons who have availed of the service; the number of accountants who are members of the panel and who were members of the panel during any given year; the number of persons on the panel from the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland, the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants, respectively, by year, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40988/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service was established to provide a comprehensive and coordinated approach to assist people in mortgage arrears or pre-arrears in assessing their options. The service includes the website , the Mortgage Arrears Information Helpline (phone 0761 072000) and the provision of independent financial advice to mortgage holders who are being presented with long term mortgage resolution proposals by their lenders.

The independent financial 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 1500 participating accountants is in place and their 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 advice.

The panel of accountants is refreshed regularly, based on information received from the various accounting bodies. While historical data is not maintained, the current breakdown is as follows:

- Chartered Accountants Ireland: 995

- Association of Chartered Certified Accountants: 315

- Institute of Certified Public Accountants: 214

- Institute of Incorporated Public Accountants: 55

Since the service was made available towards the end of 2012, there has been well in excess of 300,000 visits to the website, over 13,000 people have called the helpline, and 2,144 people have availed of the independent financial advice service (to end Q3, 2015).