5-month wait for budget service advice

Debt-ridden householders in the North West are waiting up to five months for an appointment with the State’s Money Advice and Budgeting Service, as it was revealed that Mabs staff will be “floating” between their normal jobs and the soon-to-be-launched Irish Insolvency Service.

The average wait for a Mabs appointment is 4.4 weeks, but in Donegal, a family who seeks an appointment now will have to wait until Christmas.

In Kildare, householders are waiting over three months for an appointment, while in south Mayo, it is four months. In Kerry, clients only wait two weeks while it is double that in Cork City.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton said Mabs dealt with 2,000 emergency cases this year that needed to be fast-tracked.

Meanwhile, the Irish Insolvency Service should start taking applications from indebted householders in the middle of next month, even though it is not known how many personal debt practitioners will be authorised at that point.

The director of the service, Lorcan O’Connor, also said he could not determine what fees personal insolvency practitioners would charge for debt settlement arrangements and personal insolvency arrangements, but that legislation demanded “transparency” and the “market will decide”.

All of its insolvency work will be forwarded online to the courts services by practitioners who will then await online responses from the relevant judges.

Up to 20,000 people are set to apply for debt write-off deals with the insolvency service — which marks the first real attempt by the State to tackle the personal indebtedness crisis.

At yesterday’s finance committee meeting, Mr O’Connor faced sustained questioning from TDs about the qualifications and selection of practitioners. He said legal or accounting qualifications were important, as was a proven record of negotiation success.

“The practitioners are certainly central to the success of this arrangement,” he said, which is “good for debtors and for creditors as it is efficient”. He hopes to have several hundred in place once the service is fully established.

Elsewhere, the Irish Mortgage Holders Association has warned that the Irish Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill may result in thousands of Irish people losing their homes.

“There is no doubt that the effect — both desired and achieved — of this bill will be to make it easier for banks to repossess properties including family homes,” said a spokesman.