Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Oct 1994

Vol. 446 No. 3

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Grant.

Michael Bell

Question:

125 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will give a grant to the resource centres for the unemployed to assist in the payment of their telephone bills as a large proportion of their telephone calls are made to his Department in response to queries from users of the centres. [1991/94]

Minister for Social Welfare (Dr. Woods)

My Department operates a Scheme of Grants to Voluntary Organisations under which "once-off" grants to assist with the cost of capital items such as equipment, transport and premises may be made to a range of voluntary and community organisations. Grants for ongoing running expenses other than salaries or wages may also be made, but only in very exceptional circumstances.

I announced a special grant of £40,000 to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in the 1994 budget towards the cost of employing two training officers to develop the social welfare advice role of their unemployed centres and a grant of £24,000 to the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed to employ a resource worker to co-ordinate the provision of advice and information to the unemployed through the centres affiliated to it. Both organisations received similar grants in 1993. This training will enable the centres involved to deal more and more with routine queries without the need to refer to the Department. Every effort is made to keep the costs of inquiries to my Department by members of the public and voluntary organisations to the minimum.

My Department provides a comprehensive information service at local and regional level through its extensive network of offices throughout the State. All local offices of my Department are now computerised with online access to the main central records data base. This enables staff to deal with even the most complex inquiry without undue delay. In any case where the inquiry cannot be completed promptly, staff will return the call when the relevant information is to hand to avoid unnecessary delay or expense to the caller.

A free-phone service is provided by my Department at certain times, for example, after each budget, to advise on the specific changes announced. A free-phone service is also provided in conjunction with the launch of new schemes or significant changes to existing ones.

Some of my Department's services have been decentralised in recent years and information can be obtained by either calling those offices directly or, if it is cheaper to do so, by calling the Department's main number in Dublin and having the call relayed without additional costs to the appropriate office. The current arrangements offer a high level of service to the public throughout the country. This service will be further improved as my programme of localising the Department's schemes and services develops further. The needs of organisations who provide information services will be further considered as my Department's computerisation and communications programmes develop.