Seán Sherlock
Ceist:171. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the Oireachtas enquiries line in view of staff working remotely. [17707/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 23 July 2020
Ceisteanna (171)
Freagraí scríofa
The Department provides a dedicated mailbox for each of the main schemes whereby Teachtaí Dála (TDs) can raise specific queries for their constituents directly with the relevant scheme area. These mailboxes are monitored every day and have been operating very quickly, efficiently and effectively.
We also operate within the Parliamentary Question (PQ) system and the Public Representative question to the Minister (REPs) system. All are designed to ensure that TDs have a variety of mechanisms to raise issues relating to their constituents or to the operation of the Department.
With the onset of COVID-19 the imposition of social distancing meant that the Department had to reduce the number of staff working from within the traditional office environment. Large numbers of our scheme administration staff are now successfully working from home. We have been able to redirect work to them electronically and overall productivity has been maintained at pre-COVID levels.
However, with the significant reduction in staff “onsite”, we had to review the provision of some telephone services – the main Customer Call Centres were maintained but the scheme level TD Enquiry lines had to be suspended as there weren’t sufficient staff onsite to deal with them. This is being kept under ongoing review and as social distancing measures are eased and more staff return to the office, we hope to be in a position to reintroduce these enquiry lines.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy