Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 October 2004
248 Ms Cooper-Flynn asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost of running the Money Advice and Budgeting Service; the number of centres used; the number of callers logged for the first half of 2004; and the breakdown of the type of assistance sought. [26436/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, is provided by 52 MABS companies operating out of 65 centres throughout the country. There are 130 money advisors and 80 administrative staff working in the MABS. A total of €11.4 million has been allocated to the service in 2004.
The first half of 2004 saw an increase in numbers calling to MABS offices. A total of approximately 8,500 clients used the service during that period. In 2003 the service helped approximately 16,000 new clients and had more than 13,000 active cases at any one time. The number of new clients has increased from 9,000 in 2001 and 12,000 in 2002. An average of 1,700 persons per month visit the MABS website at www.mabs.ie.
A very high number of those presenting to the MABS are "multiple debt" cases. These are cases where an individual or a family runs into arrears with a number of household bills that may include rent or mortgage, ESB bills, hire purchase costs, motor tax and insurance, children's educational expenses and personal loans from banks, credit unions, money lenders and credit cards. A detailed breakdown of the types of assistance sought is not available.
