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Youghal Town Cllr. Donie Daly calls for additional MABS resources for East Cork
Posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009Youghal Town Cllr. Donie Daly calls for additional MABS resources for East Cork
Mallow & Charleville have 7 staff covering North Cork,
Dunmanway 3 covering West Cork
Cork City has 7 staff covering City and East Cork.
This doesn’t make sense.
Cllr. Donie Daly with Seán Sherlock TD
Why does North Cork warrant 2 offices and East Cork none? Cobh, Carrigtwohill, Midleton & Youghal have been hugely hit by the collapse in property prices as young couples bought houses in these areas during the height of the property boom and are now burdened with huge mortgages with many tied into expensive fixed rates. I have people coming to my office for assistance who are unable to meet their financial obligations and are turning to unlicensed moneylenders in the absence of a local MABS service for the East Cork Region. We have 2 FF TD’s in East Cork but despite this the region has been badly left down by the Government over the last decade. Youghal has lost 2500 jobs in the last 5 years and these people are being told to ring a Helpline if they are experiencing financial difficulties! This is typical of a Govt. that has lost touch with the ordinary people. I would call on the Minister for Social & Family Affairs to either allocate additional MABS resources to the East Cork Region or fairly distribute the resources already at her disposable.
Donie
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: <sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie>
Date: Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Subject: mabs
To: doniedalyyoughal@gmail.com
Question No 151 Ref No 24213/09
To the Minister for Social and Family Affairs
To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that there is only one Money Advice and Budgeting Service office serving Cork City, all of east County Cork and parts of west Cork with the average waiting period for an appointment now standing at five to six weeks; if she will allocate additional resources to provide a MABS service based in east Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
- Seán Sherlock.
* For WRITTEN answer on Thursday, 18th June, 2009.
R E P L Y
Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Hanafin T.D.):
The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is the main Government funded
service which provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need help and
advice in coping with debt problems. In 2009, almost €18 million has been provided to assist the MABS in dealing with its workload. There are 53 independent MABS companies with voluntary boards of management operating the local MABS services from 65 locations throughout the country. In addition, the MABS National Telephone Helpline is available from 9am to 8pm Monday to Friday at lo-call number 1890 283 438 and budgeting and money management information can be accessed 24 hours a day at www.mabs.ie.
Cork MABS has 7 money advice staff and provides service to Cork city, in the main, as well as east Cork and other parts of the county. It is one of 4 MABS with a total of 17 money advice staff that provide services throughout County Cork. North Cork MABS has 4 money advice staff and is based in Mallow. West Cork MABS has 3 money advice staff and is located Dunmanway and Charleville MABS has 3 money advice staff. Applications for funding for additional staff are kept under review should any further funding become available for extra posts.
All MABS companies, including Cork MABS, operate an appointment system for meeting clients. Clients with urgent difficulties are prioritised for attention and dealt with promptly. Less urgent cases are referred to the National Telephone Helpline and to the MABS website for immediate assistance with budgeting and money management issues. The Helpline can now handle less complex straight forward single debt cases such as threatened utility disconnections and deals directly with the ESB and An Bord Gais in relation to these cases. Over 90% of callers to the Helpline find that their money management and budgeting issues can be resolved with the assistance of the helpline advisor. Some 10% of callers are referred to the local MABS for appointment.
In addition the Helpline provides assistance to local services to manage their appointment lists by providing an initial preliminary MABS service to clients and ongoing support while they await their appointment with their local money advisor.
The MABS advises that people coping with debt difficulties should take early action. An approach to MABS via any of the channels can be the first positive step in addressing debt difficulties. The MABS provides a high quality personal service that helps many people to cope with and overcome the burden of indebtedness that can have such an impact on their lives and that of their families.
deputy Seán Sherlock
Labour Spokesperson on Agriculture and Food
Cork East
Flemings (Davis) Lane
Mallow
Co. Cork
022-53523
087-7402057
–
Cllr. Donie Daly
48 South Main Street,
Youghal,
Co. Cork
Tel:- (086) 8103886
Email:- doniedalyyoughal@gmail.com
Cllr. Donie Daly
48 South Main Street,
Youghal,
Co. Cork
Tel:- (086) 8103886
Email:- doniedalyyoughal@gmail.com
Hear hear, to both of you
Sean Sherlock is a credit to his profession.
I can say first hand, that there are many many people out there, that are feeling financial stress for the first time in over a decade, or in some cases for the first time in their lives. Cumann Na Daoine’s proactive approach is definitely most welcome, but now, as said, is when these services, whether provided by the state (or more often, given the way this country operates-by well meaning individuals and groups who offer up their own time and effort for the good of the community), are needed more than ever.
We do know one thing however, Michael Ahern *does* know the way to Youghal. He found it fast enough when a photo opportunity with An Taoiseach beckoned recently.
Thanks for your comments Eanna,
I certainly was not advocating a cut in the services being provided for in other areas, but I would like an equitable distribution of the resources that are there!
As you stated there was an outreach service in 2005/2006, and I would agree that the relatively modest take up was due to the fact that the majority of people were in a far better financial situation than they are currently facing.
I cant see why an outreach service could not be provided for the people of East Cork – why should this region get the thin edge of the wedge yet again!
The problem all along has been a lack of desire on behalf of our public representatives to highlight this situation – the reason being? MABS is a politically controlled organisation and provision of this service has been historically at the whim of Fianna Fail.
You are correct in saying that Sean Sherlock will continue to lobby for this service for East Cork, and he has been a staunch supporter of it, ever since I made him aware of the situation. Sean has been a TD representing Cork East with a little over 2 years, however we have had 2 FF TDs ‘representing’ East Cork with 27 years (in Govt. for 19 of those years) and I for one haven’t heard too much lobbying from them on anything East of Carrigtwohill or South of Rathcormac in a long time!
Hi Donie,
the solution to the lack of MABS services in East Cork involves recruiting or allocating more staff or volunteers to provide an outreach service; and utilising existing community facilities to host the service. The solution does not involve cutting services where they are needed in West Cork, North Cork and Cork City.
I read the East Cork Journal and Youghal online stories expressing your appropriate concerns about the lack of a MABS service in East Cork.
When I was the co-ordinator of Cumann na Daoine CDP, we hosted MABS outreach services on the premises. That was back in 2005/06. Although we advertised the service extensively locally, the uptake was modest at that time. Mostly it was existing MABS clients from the area that availed of the outreach, saving them the journeys to Cork.
I’m quite certain that the demand for MABS services here in Youghal and throughout East Cork has grown a lot since them, and I’m absolutely convinced that there are individuals and families in our community that need to sort out their financial situation as soon as possible.
In my view, it could be relatively simple to co-ordinate an outreach service using existing community facilities such as the Citizen Information Centre or the CDP in Youghal; the Library in Midleton; the Community facility in Carrigtwohill; and the Citizens Information Centre or the Community Centre in Cobh.
The problem is going to be allocating the MABS staff to cover an outreach service. It’s a vital service and chronically under-resourced, given the way things have gone. The Citizens Information Centres provide essential information using a mix of paid staff and volunteers. This could be looked at as a model for MABS.
Hopefully Mr Sherlock and others will continue to lobby at national level for further investment in the MABS service.
Éanna Dowling