Departmental Staff.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 July 2008

Thursday, 10 July 2008

Ceisteanna (418)

Kathleen Lynch

Ceist:

417 Deputy Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the number signing on the live register at the Cork local office has increased by 30% over the past year, that this increase is creating a serious backlog in processing claims and is causing hardship for clients and pressure on staff with a knock on effect on community welfare officers; the action she proposes to take to deal with this matter; if she will sanction adequate staffing levels to deal with the backlog; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29132/08]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin)

As a consequence of the increasing Live Register the staffing levels in Local Offices have been reviewed by the Management Services Unit of the Department and some additional posts have been allocated. To date an additional 31 posts have been allocated to some 15 offices and the necessary assignments are currently being made.

In the past few years the Department has coped with increasing demands arising from significant changes to the social welfare code and in the number of persons accessing the system. Operational procedures and the organisation of work continue to be reviewed and restructured to maximise the benefits of technology and new developments in processing techniques and business information.

The Department is monitoring the fluctuation in the live register on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that local offices are adequately resourced. Cork Local Office currently has 92.5 staff and the overall processing times in the office are reasonable having regard to the increased claim load. The Department has no immediate plans to assign additional resources to that office.