I propose to take Questions Nos. 420 and 421 together.
I can advise the Deputy that there are a total of 52 Personal Insolvency Practitioners (PIPs) currently authorised by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI). In addition, there are 38 individuals within 13 Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) companies authorised to act as Approved Intermediaries. Details are set out in the Table. The ISI is continuing to authorise Approved Intermediaries and Personal Insolvency Practitioners, therefore those numbers will increase in the coming months.
The location and contact details of each practitioner are publicly available on the various Registers on the ISI's website, www.isi.gov.ie.
In the interest of confidentiality, the ISI has stated that it will not be providing details or breakdowns of the numbers of applications for the various debt relief solutions received or being processed at this time. The ISI fully intends to provide quarterly statistics once a statistically meaningful number of applications have been processed.
It might be noted that the ISI has added a Statistics page to its website (http://www.isi.gov.ie/en/ISI/Pages/Statistics) which provides details of key information such as the number of approved practitioners, information requests to the ISI and associated pertinent information. I am advised that the statistics page will be updated on a monthly basis and I would encourage Deputies to consult that page in order to get the latest information.
TABLE: Number of Personal Insolvency Practitioners and MABS Companies acting as Approved Intermediaries, by County
COUNTY
|
Number of Personal Insolvency Practitioners
|
Number of MABS companies acting as Approved Intermediaries
|
Cavan
|
1
|
1
|
Clare
|
2
|
-
|
Cork
|
5
|
2
|
Donegal
|
2
|
-
|
Dublin
|
18
|
4
|
Galway
|
5
|
-
|
Kerry
|
2
|
-
|
Kildare
|
3
|
-
|
Kilkenny
|
-
|
1
|
Limerick
|
2
|
-
|
Longford
|
-
|
1
|
Louth
|
2
|
-
|
Mayo
|
1
|
-
|
Meath
|
2
|
1
|
Monaghan
|
-
|
1
|
Offaly
|
1
|
-
|
Tipperary
|
3
|
-
|
Waterford
|
2
|
1
|
Wexford
|
-
|
1
|
Wicklow
|
1
|
-
|
Total
|
52
|
13 (representing 38 individuals)
|