andMr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Social Welfare if it is his intention to dispense with the services of many senior officers at present stationed in the provinces.
78.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Social Welfare Officers.
77.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if it is his intention to withdraw a large number of social welfare officers and to implement any change in the present system of having claims examined by local pension sub-committees.
I propose with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to take Questions numbered 77 and 78 together.
It is my intention to have the work at present performed by social welfare officers and social welfare supervisors re-organised. This re-organisation, which is being carried out in the interest of efficiency, will entail a reduction in the number of these officers required. The re-organisation proposals are being discussed with representatives of the grades concerned and it is the intention that the discussions should cover all aspects of the matter including questions relating to the future of officers who become redundant because of the re-organisation.
This re-organisation does not involve any change in the present system whereby claims for non-contributory old age pensions are decided by Old Age Pension Committees and Sub-Committees.
Has the Minister considered the question whether there will be a consequential deterioration in the quality of the local inquiry that has heretofore been conducted by the local pensions officer when appeals are pending in relation to old age pensions claims?
I am quite satisfied that there will not be any such deterioration.
Has the Minister adverted to the fact that under the present system there is a local pensions officer who knows the people and knows the circumstances? If these functions of inquiry are to be transferred to some central bureaucracy——
They are not.
What is proposed if the number is reduced? Is it intended to reduce it only in proportion to the number of people who have been transferred to contributory old age pensions or how can you reduce the number of these officers without reducing the quality of the investigation?
The fact that a number have been transferred to contributory pensions will be responsible for part of the reduction but the major reduction in numbers will be as a result of having certain clerical type of work performed by other grades.