Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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406. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of applicants to date to the Abhaile scheme; the number of persons who have been accepted into the scheme; the number of persons who availed of the services of an accountant, a mortgage adviser, a personal insolvency practitioner, a solicitor or a court mentor on the basis of a voucher issued by the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9570/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS), under the aegis of the Citizens Information Board, assists people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems, in particular those on low incomes or living on social welfare payments. As part of its free services, MABS provides help and advice to those in mortgage arrears.

The role of MABS was expanded in 2015 with the establishment of a Dedicated Mortgage Arrears MABS service (DMA MABS) across the MABS network, to help people specifically with home mortgage arrears. There are now 32 specialist DMA advisors working across 27 locations countrywide, assisting borrowers to assess the options available to them and, where required, negotiating with lenders on their behalf. To date, the DMA services has helped over 3,000 such borrowers. People seeking to access help under the DMA MABS service do not require a voucher to do so.

Additionally, MABS has established a national network of court mentors. The mentors attend each listed repossession Court hearing nationwide and provide support to distressed borrowers who are facing the loss of their home and signposting them to the appropriate services. To date, over 1,600 borrowers have been referred to MABS services through the court mentor service. Borrowers do not require a voucher to access this service.

In 2016, an additional initiative was announced by Government. The scheme, known as Abhaile, further extends the free services already available to borrowers through the DMA MABS service and the court mentor service. The new voucher based scheme, for which MABS is the gateway, provides access for people, who are insolvent and in home mortgage arrears, to defined levels of independent expert financial and/or legal advice and assistance, free of charge. Qualification for help under the scheme is based on the being (a) in mortgage arrears on their home; (b) insolvent; (c) at risk of losing their home because of their mortgage arrears; and (d) reasonably accommodated.

The new services are provided by professionals drawn from one or more panels of solicitors, personal insolvency practitioners or accountants. Professional panels consisting of qualified and regulated solicitors and personal insolvency practitioners are already in place, and an expert panel of accountants is expected to be in place by end Quarter 1, 2017 to provide specialist financial advice, where required.

The scheme has been in operation since 22 July 2016 and was formally launched on 3 October 2016. To date, 4,810 vouchers for services have been issued, in respect of 3,017 principle private residences. Of the vouchers issued to date, 3,764 relate to the provision of personal insolvency practitioner services, 925 for legal advice services on issues related to mortgage arrears, and 121 for legal aid services relating to Section 115A Appeals, as defined under the Personal Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2015. No vouchers have issued for accountancy services, as the panel is not yet in place.

While we have already seen significant take up of the services available, it is intended that the communication campaign which I jointly launched yesterday with the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald T.D., will encourage many more borrowers to come forward and avail of the free help they need to resolve their home mortgage arrears. The campaign includes outdoor posters, radio advertisements and a social media campaign, in order to reach as many distressed borrowers as possible, with the aim of keeping individuals and families in their own homes.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.