Vol. 415 No. 2
8 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline the training programmes which have been established for social welfare staff who are likely to be requested to provide information for intending emigrants; and if any money has been provided in community or local level for non-governmental organisations to provide such training.
The staff in the Information Services of my Department are trained to provide general information on all aspects of social welfare schemes including information on the social security rights and entitlements of people moving to other countries. General training for staff also includes training in communication skills and covers the approaches staff should adopt in helping people with their queries.
The requirements of our clients and the training needs of staff who provide the service are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Information leaflets about preserving or transferring Irish social welfare entitlements for workers moving within the European Community are available in social welfare services offices throughout the country. These leaflets deal with unemployment and disability benefits and with pensions for people who are widowed or retired.
Advice and information about preserving entitlements outside the European Community are also available from the Information Service of the Department at 43 offices around the country.
Three voluntary organisations who provide services for intending emigrants have received grants in recent years under the scheme of grants to voluntary bodies administered by my Department.
In addition, the Government provide funding through two sources for groups abroad who provide advice and generally look after the welfare of Irish emigrants. In 1991, £500,000 was provided to groups, mainly in the UK through DÍON, the Committee on Welfare Services Abroad. Also £200,000 provided in the 1991 budget to assist groups providing welfare and advice services to Irish emigrants in the United States. This assistance is provided through the Department of Foreign Affairs.
I am sure the Minister is aware at this stage of the complexity of the Irish social security system. I believe that post-1992 there will be a big increase in the number of people emigrating to England and Europe. Would the Minister agree that when FLAC investigated the availability of information to potential emigrants and migrant workers they found it sadly lacking? Would the Minister agree that it is time he instituted a specific programme which would be widely dispersed throughout his Department, using agencies such as FLAC to disseminate information which is badly needed by the large number of people who move between Ireland, England and mainland Europe? Given the complexities of the social security systems operated in the EC this information will be vital in the future.
I agree with the broad thrust of what the Deputy has said. There are some information leaflets available on this. I thought I had sent these to Deputies but if I have not I will certainly do so.
I got them.
On the last occasion we discussed this issue I said I would make copies of the information available. The main difficulty we have is with the United Kingdom system. We have put a whole range of new services in place to try to improve communications between the two countries. There was a particular difficulty because the UK authorities regionalised their services and it was very hard to get a full record of a person's contributions. In view of the remarks made today and on the previous occasion we discussed this issue, I will ask the people in my Department who have been trained in communication skills to examine ways of providing extra advice and guidance in this area.
Can the Minister say if intending emigrants who call to exchanges will get useful information?
As I said, information and advice are available from 43 offices around the country. As the Deputy will be aware, there is a very sophisticated system in operation. We are improving this system all the time and investing heavily in it. It should be possible to get the most detailed, accurate and up-to-date information in any one of the 43 offices. If there are any complaints in this regard I would be glad to hear about them.
Given the size of our emigrant population, particularly in Britain, and his Department's overall budget, would the Minister not agree that the £500,000 provided by the Department is not adequate to man the type of service required by emigrants?
May I ask if there is any programme which would provide, for emigrants who intend to come home, information as to their requirements when they arrive back here? The Minister will be aware of individual cases where difficulties arise in this regard. Would he agree that whatever about regionalisation in Britain, they still seem to use a goose quill when writing on Irish cases and there are delays of up to six months in getting people's records which are needed to give them entitlements when they come home? Can the Minister find some way of improving the grant to emigrant organisations in Britain to enable them to get information to these people?
There is surely a way in which we can improve the present system if, as the Deputy seems to think, it is unsatisfactory. Some delays occur, and I gave a reply to a question on that matter previously although I do not have the details of it here. However I have information that shows that the delays experienced in the past have been reduced and much of the difficulties have been eliminated. The people in Britain have moved away from the quills at last and have improved their technology. We now have a telephonic link with them and therefore we should be able to alleviate to hardship caused to people by delays in that area. I will certainly ask the staff who deal with this matter to have a more detailed look at it and come back with recommendations to improve the system.
I appreciate the Minister's attempt to make improvements in this area but, as we all know, we are becoming more international in our handling of constituent queries. I have dealt with cases as far afield as Berlin in Germany. Is the Minister aware that politicians expect to deal with a wider range of queries from non-nationals in future? It is our experience that the response by his Department to queries is extremely slow. Would the Minister agree that FLAC, in their report to the EC Commission, found that a recurrent theme was the general lack of information in relation to entitlements under EC regulations? Perhaps the Minister would look again at that report and carry out the necessary improvements.
That report is available in the Department — there is reference to it in the reply — but what the Deputy is suggesting is that we improve the information facilities for people abroad. The best way to do that is through the representative organisations abroad who deal with my Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs or the Department of Labour. In view of the Deputy's concern about this matter I will ask that a further examination be carried out to see if we could correlate the information services in the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Labour and my Department. The advice that should be given to people who wish to come back here is that they should carefully check their insurance records before they leave the country in which they live. I would not suggest that the Deputy consider holding a clinic in Berlin.
Were it not for the free phone service here I would not have been able to handle many of the complex queries.
