National Traveller MABS celebrates 20th anniversary and launches Irish Travellers and Pensions 2025 report

The Citizens Information Board was delighted to attend a National Traveller MABS event on Wednesday 11th June which celebrated 20 years of National Traveller MABS and saw the launch of the Irish Travellers and Pensions 2025 publication by Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Robert Troy TD.

Speaking at the event, Graham Long, Chief Executive Designate of the Citizens Information Board, commended the work of National Traveller MABS to date: “National Traveller MABS has been promoting and working on the financial inclusion of Travellers for twenty years, which is a remarkable mission to have and a remarkable milestone for any organisation to reach.”

The predecessor of National Traveller MABS was Exchange House MABS, which was initially established as a pilot project within Exchange House Traveller Services in 1998. The service was established to address problems of debt and access to affordable credit among members of the Traveller community.

Exchange House MABS was mainly focused on the Greater Dublin Area, before expanding to a national support organisation in 2005 with the establishment of National Traveller MABS. National Traveller MABS is funded and supported by the Citizens Information Board.

Irish Travellers and Pensions 2025

Today’s event also saw the launch by Minister Troy of the National Traveller MABS publication, Irish Travellers and Pensions 2025. It provides an in-depth analysis of the retirement planning behaviours and attitudes of Irish Travellers and highlights significant disparities in pension coverage between Irish Travellers and the settled population, revealing important insights into the financial preparedness of the Traveller community.

Among the findings of the report are that only 21% of Travellers have a pension, compared to 61% of the settled population.

The full report will be published on the NTMABS website, ntmabs.org.