National Traveller MABS welcomes the news that the Department of Social Protection is supporting the introduction of "Low Cost Loans" for people at risk of becoming indebted to moneylenders.

Our latestest edition of The Thaire Tmes and NTMABS Newsletter is now available for you to read. Please visit our Facbook page for more updates and news!!

Procedures have been agreed to ensure that all One-parent Family Payment (OFP) recipients who are participating in training or education when their entitlement to the OFP payment ends will be able to complete their course with income support, subject to normal scheme conditions.

National Traveller MABS is a leading advocate for the financial inclusion of Travellers in Ireland.

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is concerned that there is an increasing number of people in debt attending court who have no legal representative to support them. Many have never had any dealings with the legal process, are intimidated by it and are often fearful and confused.

Overpayments of social welfare can arise due to a range of reasons such as administrative errors on behalf of Department of Social Protection, genuine misunderstanding on behalf of recipients and fraud.

 MABS, the State’s response to helping those in debt, has assisted 291,486 people with their financial difficulties since 2009.

Ethnic monitoring is the proactive gathering and use of data by service providers to ensure that a services offered can reasonably accommodate the specific needs of users from different ethnic groups and that services does not  discriminate against those groups.

National Traveller MABS were delighted to host a Traveller Youth Forum in Croke Park on December 10^th, 2014. The forum was attended by over 40 young Travellers from around Ireland.

The latest editions of both our newsletters are  available. The Tharie Times inform MABS and CIS staff of issues pertaining to the Traveller community. The National Traveller MABS Newsletter  informs the Traveller community of  issues relating to personal finance.

National Traveller MABS have been delighted with the response from politicians on our position paper on the ending of the Lough Payment Scheme.

National Traveller MABS were delighted to showcase their work during Clare Traveller Focus week in Ennis in November 2014.  We hosted a stand during an event to celebrate Traveller culture and achievements. The event celebrated the achievements of  Travellers locally with renowned singer Mary Keenan entertaining the crowd.

As many of you are aware, there was a decision early this year to end  the Lough Payment Scheme. The scheme is an extension of the Household Budget Scheme and operates for MABS clients.

Croke Park
Wednesday 10^th December

We are delighted to announce that we are now on facebook please click here to follow NTMABS.

 Was announced on 14 October 2014. The main changes that may affect members of the Traveller community are set out below. This is not a complete statement of the measures announced in Budget 2015.

As we are aware, the controversy with Irish Water continues. The latest update, due to change with the expected announcement by government, is that the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) agreed to extend the application deadline for all to 30th November 2014.

During July and August 2014, Citizens Information Service recorded that the main areas of concern for clients were Supplementary Welfare Schemes (12%). 65% of clients presenting with Supplementary Welfare Schemes issues were concerned with Rent Supplement.

Jobs Week is a series of jobseeker and employer events which will take place across the country from Monday 29^th September to Friday 3^rd October.

The Back To Education Initiative (BTEI) provides part-time further education courses mainly for people with less than upper second-level education.