Many local offices of my Department are equipped with computerised facilities and members of the public can obtain much of the information concerning their social welfare claims and payments at their local information office at the cost of a local call. This includes information on pensions, child benefit and treatments benefit claims handled at my Department's decentralised offices at Sligo and Letterkenny. The range of services available to the public at local information offices is currently being extended so that, in time, most social welfare claims will be dealt with locally.
Members of the public wishing to contact the decentralised offices directly can do so either by ringing Sligo or Letterkenny or, if it is cheaper, by ringing my Department's headquarters in Dublin. Under the current arrangements, all members of the public can still contact the Department for the same cost as prior to decentralisation. In addition, however, people in the North-West can contact the Department at a lesser cost by ringing the Sligo or Letterkenny office directly.
I am satisfied that the current arrangements provide a satisfactory level of service to the public throughout the country and represent an improvement on the situation that obtained prior to decentralisation. I have no plans to introduce any additional general local call facility.
