Vol. 512 No. 6
321 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the reason for his decision to consider switching to voucher payments for asylum seekers in view of the fact that this was discontinued for welfare recipients on grounds of being degrading and discriminating. [27004/99]
The supplementary welfare allowance – SWA – scheme provides entitlement to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. The scheme is administered by the health boards on behalf of the Department. Payment is made in accordance with the relevant legislation as long as the person satisfies the conditions of the scheme.
No decision has been made to change the manner of payments of SWA to asylum seekers or any other group. Following the recent Government decision that in future the basic needs of asylum seekers may be met through direct rather than cash means, a scheme of direct provision is being drawn up. Direct provision eliminates the need for basic payments and rent supplements by providing the accommodation, goods and services required by the individual directly. When direct provision is introduced asylum seekers may require a residual income maintenance payment to cover personal requisites similar to the "comfort payments" made to certain people in long-term institutional care. Details have yet to be worked out.
A system of direct provision also has been agreed in the UK and will be effective from 1 April 2000.
322 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the resources available at his Department's offices in Mount Street, Dublin 2, to deal with asylum seekers; and the way in which this compares with the staff workload in terms of applicants in other similar offices dealing with Irish applicants. [27006/99]
The Refugee Applications Centre at Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2, is a "One-Stop-Shop" facility which provides services for asylum seekers in relation to asylum claim processing, health, accommodation, income maintenance and legal services. The Eastern Health Board – EHB – provides income maintenance services on behalf of my Department at the centre. EHB staff at the centre also source emergency accommodation on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Local Government and they also operate a health screening service from that location.
The EHB's asylum unit provides both income maintenance and accommodation services at the centre. The level of staffing agreed for the asylum unit at the centre is: two superintendent community welfare officers – SCWOs; 25 community welfare officers – CWOs; one office manager; five clerical staff and ten porters.
There has been no disagreement concerning the number of staff at the unit. In fact, when unions representing staff at the unit recently requested the assignment of ten additional CWOs, management responded by offering a further 15 posts in various grades, including the ten CWO posts requested by the unions. The recent industrial relations problems at the unit centred on health and safety concerns and on the number of staff who would be offered permanent contracts. These matters are now the subject of a Labour Court recommendation which the management side has accepted.
The asylum unit deals with some 3,000 people in emergency accommodation and the current average of 1,000 new arrivals each month. Staffing and related issues, such as office accommodation, concerning the reception of asylum seekers are kept under constant review. There is a higher ratio of CWOs to clients in the asylum unit than in other health centres because of the different needs of the clients, for instance, in relation to language and translation difficulties. However, because the range and level of services provided in individual health centres differs depending on local needs, direct comparisons of staffing levels are difficult to make.
