Vol. 519 No. 2
145 Mr. Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health and Children the immediate plans he has for the community welfare services; his long-term plans for the services; the number of redundancies planned for the next five years and for the next ten years; and if he will give a guarantee that the community welfare services will continue to exist and that there will be no early retirements or redundancies. [13475/00]
I have no plans at this time to effect any changes to the community welfare services currently administered by community welfare officers employed by the health boards.
However, I am aware that the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs has established a working group to carry out a review of the operation of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. In addition, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government is examining proposals relating to the possible transfer of the payment of rent allowances to local authorities for integration with other housing functions. Both these schemes are currently administered by and comprise a significant portion of the workload of community welfare officers.
Pending the outcome of these reviews, I am not in a position to indicate what changes, if any, may result in the work of community welfare officers nor how any such changes might be addressed. The question of redundancies or early retirements does not, therefore, arise at this time.
