asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he received a petition signed by 104 women protesting at the fact that they had to queue for more than two hours at North Cumberland Street employment exchange on Monday, 4 February, to sign for credits; the steps he intends taking to ensure that this situation is not repeated; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Employment Exchange Delay.
3.
I received the petition and I have had the matter examined. Revised signing arrangements for women signing for credited contributions at North Cumberland Street employment exchange were brought into operation on Monday, 4 March 1985 and this will improve the situation. I regret the inconvenience caused to the women referred to by the Deputy in this question.
I welcome the Minister's announcement that revised arrangements have been made. Is he satisfied that the new arrangements will overcome the problem which these women experienced on that occasion?
I believe so; but if for some reason it does not, I can assure the House that further steps will be taken to avoid this type of problem. On the occasion to which the Deputy referred, there were some circumstances which gave rise to the long delay. The manager of the employment exchange reported that there was no delay in signing at the credits hatch in the morning, but delays occurred in the afternoon mainly because a number of claimants who attended in the afternoon were due to attend that morning. In addition, there were a large number of inquiries from claimants about their position under the equality of treatment legislation and the new benefits year which commenced on 7 January 1985. Obviously when the people signed the previous month the new benefits year had not commenced and all the inquiries had accumulated for that day. Immediately the manager was notified that claimants were being delayed, he re-deployed staff from other areas to the credits hatch. The matter has been resolved and hopefully there will be no undue delays again; but, if it does happen, we will have another look at the situation.