Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue with Deputies Seán Kyne and Thomas Pringle.

In the past week it has been brought to my knowledge that the Department plans to withdraw the community welfare service offices serving Ballyhaunis and Claremorris in County Mayo and transfer them to Castlebar. I sought clarification from the Minister's office, but I have not received it. I assume the move is going ahead. A number of rural community welfare offices in County Mayo have been closed in recent years, but they had the benefit of far greater proximity to the towns in which the service is now based. On this occasion, the entire service is delivered out of east Mayo and two towns with a particular need for it. This raises the need for a full-time community welfare service to be based in rural areas.

One of the difficulties people will not understand by looking at a map is the lack of public transport. People do not have the opportunities available in urban areas in terms of bus and rail transport. The clients who use the community welfare service have serious financial issues and do not have the cash for taxis. They may not have their own resources for transport and we will leave them in a serious position.

The broader issue is the withdrawal of Government services from rural areas and the need to examine this issue in an audit. The area in question has suffered in recent years from the withdrawal of services, including under the previous Government. Departments reorganising services need to come together to ensure they are not targeting specific areas for the withdrawal of services in order that the burden can be shared.

I would like to know what the position is on the offices in Claremorris and Ballyhaunis. I spoke to the Minister over the summer about delays in respect of domiciliary care allowances. She indicated that she would act and there has been a transformation in the delivery of the service since we spoke, which I acknowledge.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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I join Deputy Dara Calleary in thanking the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this issue to be raised.

As of yesterday, clinics have been closed in County Donegal. Some 12 clinics have been closed and clients are being asked to make their way to larger towns to avail of community welfare services. This does not recognise the geography of rural Ireland and counties and the difficulties many of the clients of the Department face in accessing services. The 12 clinics are in outlying areas where there is no transport link to get people to larger towns to access the clinics. It does not recognise that these are the most vulnerable people in society and, through their need to access services, they must have a lot of contact with community welfare officers. Many will be reviewed for rent supplement and must access the service on that basis. Others may be looking for exceptional needs payment and simply cannot afford to travel across the county to access these services.

The letter issued in County Donegal states that it is due to the roll-out of the Intreo programme and a one-stop shop for employment services. However, I fail to see what the community welfare offices will bring to the roll-out of the Intreo service when they need to be kept in place to provide the services which are vital to those using them. The Department has not taken account of the difficulties of people in rural areas in accessing services. In recent years we have seen the closure of post offices and Garda stations and threats to rural schools. People see these public services being withdrawn and it leads to a huge amount of concern and difficulties in our communities. I, therefore, ask the Minister to reverse the decision, on which there was no consultation. Some of the clinics being closed are the busiest.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating this Topical Issue debate.

I acknowledge the work of the Minister and her Department in ensuring the continued provision of services, despite the extraordinary and unprecedented challenges we face. The economic crisis has put extra strain on Departments' budgets, particularly that of the Department of Social Protection, and I appreciate the need to minimise administration costs. I understand the rationale behind Intreo offices and the provision of one-stop shops. I also acknowledge the support and advice I have received from the staff within the Minister's office. In the Galway office Mr. Eoin Brown has provided great information on the issue. However, the new rationalisation measure to centralise community welfare offices has been ill-thought out. The committee welfare services are required by people in a vulnerable state and experiencing financial difficulties through job losses or another traumatic event. I tabled a number of questions to the Minister last week. The replies inform me that the criteria on which the reorganisation is made include the distance between clinics, the available transport, the number of customers, as well as the time and duration of clinics. I find it hard to believe these criteria were applied to the office in Galway, which I am sure is similar to that in County Mayo and County Donegal. My fear is that the decision was taken without an understanding of the large geographical area which it serves. Ó inniu ar aghaidh, beidh ar daoine i gConamara a dteastaíonn seirbhís ón oifig leasa shóisialaigh uathu taisteal go Gaillimh nó An Clochán chun seirbhís a fháil. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil plean d'oifig taistil ag teastáil agus go mbeidh seirbhís trí Gaeilge ar fáil, ach tá faitíos ar an phobal faoi an athrú seo. I understand the rationale and have seen it explained, but I am concerned about the distances people will be required to travel. They must access services in Galway and from tomorrow new services in Clifden. This is causing undue hardship for the most vulnerable of people.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I thank Deputies Dara Calleary, Seán Kyne and Thomas Pringle for raising this issue.

The Department is examining the operation of all its services, including the community welfare service, in the context of the Pathways to Work commitments and the development of Intreo services nationally. The Pathways to Work programme represents a significant reform in the social welfare system and highlights the need for the Department to focus its resources on the provision of opportunities, supports and assistance for unemployed persons.

The Department is intensifying its level of engagement with the unemployed, particularly those who are long-term unemployed. I think all the Deputies here would share that concern. The new Intreo service offers practical, tailored employment services and supports for jobseekers, a model which is currently being rolled out across the country. It is expected that 300 staff will be redeployed to activation work from within the Department's existing resources by the end of the year. The first 160 staff members are in the process of being redeployed. These include staff from the community welfare service.

Overall, this will result in a rebalancing of resources across the Department's range of activities, including the relocation of some staff to main centres, primarily Intreo offices. Intreo centres will provide a full range of services, including the community welfare service, and these will, in general, be available in one location. As a consequence, it has been necessary to restructure the operation of community welfare services, including those in County Galway, where changes came into effect this week, and elsewhere in Galway and Mayo. In preparation for these changes, the Department contacted all affected customers directly, advising them of the changes in the services. In addition, arrangements were put in place to provide dedicated phone services allowing, in most cases, for customer queries to be processed without the need for attendance at a clinic. I stress that the basis of the service should be a modern telephone service, so that customers do not have to travel to and queue up in a community welfare office other than in exceptional circumstances. However, if a person is unable to travel to a clinic - for example, due to illness - alternative arrangements are in place, including visits to the client's home should that be necessary.

It is important to note that under the new arrangements, the frequency of available clinics is being increased to five days a week in the case of Galway and to three days a week in the case of Clifden. In addition, the number of staff available to these clinics is being increased, providing improved access to services. It is planned to roll out similar changes in Mayo in the coming months. It should be noted that although more than 100 clinics closed in 2012, the service to customers was, I would argue - Deputies can check with their colleagues - not only maintained but expanded and enhanced, allowing vital social welfare staff to help the unemployed get back to work. This is a win-win situation, I hope, for everybody, not only the customers who need help - they are the most important - but also the unemployed, to whom I have given a commitment on behalf of taxpayers in Ireland to help them get back to work and become financially independent.

The Department is conscious of its obligations to those who are Irish speakers. We are committed to providing services through Irish to customers. There are a number of staff in the offices covering the Connemara Gaeltacht who provide a service through Irish, and this will continue to be the case. The Department is also committed to the continued development and training of staff to facilitate the provision of services through Irish. The Deputies will be aware that a range of forms, leaflets and other documents are available, in both Irish and English, on the Department's website. The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continuously reviewed to ensure that the best use is made of all existing resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department.

Much of the old work and a significant part of the work of community welfare officers, as the Deputies will be aware, was to do with supplementary welfare. Where we introduced the Intreo office system, the need for supplementary welfare payments in many cases was reduced to a fraction of what it used to be, because we can sort out matters such as jobseeker's claims within a week. As the Deputies will be aware, such matters were a significant part of the work of the clinics.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The difficulty continues to centre on a number of issues such as access on a geographical basis. I note the Department will put telephone arrangements in place. There is a fantastic community welfare system, with front-line community welfare officers who work incredibly hard. Their personal knowledge of clients is essential in serving not only the clients but also the Department. They know the real circumstances of the clients. By moving to a telephone service, the Department will lose that.

The location of the Intreo offices - an important service whose roll-out I welcome - will be away from clients. The three Deputies who raised this issue all share the view that this seems to be missing in the consideration of the Department. The Minister is forcing those who do not have resources to use the telephone. The possibility of engaging in human interaction about what they are seeking is not available, based on what she is saying.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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While there may be a telephone service available, it will be interesting to see how that will work where there are application forms to be filled out or paperwork to be sent in to the community welfare officer for a decision. I do not know how that will work out in practice. I ask the Minister to keep this under review with a view to reopening the clinics if necessary if the service fails the clients who deserve it.

One of the clinics closing in Donegal is in Pettigo, and an offer has been made to clients to use the clinic either in Ballyshannon or in Donegal town. There is one bus service a week to Donegal town from Pettigo and there is none to Ballyshannon. For those in Gaoth Dobhair, where the service is closing, there are two clinics: one in Dungloe, which is 15 miles away, and one in Falcarragh, which is also approximately 15 miles away. One cannot get a bus to Dungloe. If one gets a bus to Falcarragh, one arrives at half past ten in the morning and cannot get a bus back again until half past five in the evening. These are the type of service that these clients must access and it is simply not the best way of dealing with them. The Minister at least should be willing to keep this under review over the next number of months and, if it is not working, to reinstate these services.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. I concur with Deputies Calleary and Pringle regarding keeping this under review.

There is a concern that the Minister is taking the community out of community welfare provision. While telephone, e-mail, letters, etc., are fine, some living in parts of my area who must see a community welfare officer may have to travel 60 kilometres one way for a service, and, as Deputy Pringle outlined, using an infrequent public transport system. It would be like sending somebody from Blanchardstown to Drogheda or from Clonsilla nearly to Mullingar to avail of a service, and if the person had to go to those places, he or she would have a much better public transport system than we have in Connemara and the other regions mentioned. Where it is vital that a service is provided, we need to ensure that we provide it. I again ask that this be kept under review.

I have spoken to officials in Galway to see whether a service can be provided on a half-day-a-week basis, concentrated, for example, in An Cheathrú Rua, where the Minister was present for the opening of the MABS office. The Minister will appreciate the distance even from An Cheathrú Rua to Galway city. The Minister might be able to keep that under review.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I thank the Deputies.

Let me explain a little of the background. Some 1,000 staff transferred from the HSE to the Department of Social Protection in October 2011. At that time, my Department took over 900 clinics, many of which were situated at crossroads and in hotels, as the Deputies will be aware, for an hour, a half-hour or even, in some cases, ten minutes.

Previously, a large part of the work of a community welfare officer was providing supplementary welfare payments. With the transformation of the service, when somebody goes into the new Intreo office and identifies what he or she wants to claim - for instance, jobseeker's allowance - by and large, the person will get it within a week.

The following may be of some reassurance to the Deputies, because I understand why they are concerned about it. To date, we have closed 268 clinics, and to be perfectly honest, we really have not received the kind of negative feedback about which the Deputies are apprehensive. Of course, I will bear in mind Deputy Pringle's request that we keep the situation under review.

The Department provides a telephone service and in special cases of illness, for example, it will send an official to the home. It will have an extra 300 officials available whose work it will be to get people back to work. I refer the Deputies to the significant support provided by my Department for community employment and Tús schemes in their areas. It identifies and selects those eligible to participate in these schemes. Therefore, there is a significant level of work being carried out by the Department. From my travels around the country and in the areas represented by the Deputies, I know about the significant contribution of some of these schemes to the different areas all this year, including the Tidy Towns competition and The Gathering. I ask the Deputies to be aware that the work of activation, particularly the expansion of community employment scheme opportunities, Tús and other schemes, has produced a significant dividend at local level in the areas to which they have referred. This is a trade-off arrangement which I undertake to keep under review. That is why we gave everyone involved very detailed information in advance. We will certainly keep the conversation going.

I thank Deputy Dara Calleary for his comments on the domiciliary care allowance. I have said in the House that we took on the job to revamp the IT platform. This was a risk and it took quite an amount of time, but we have now cleared the backlogs in respect of domiciliary care allowance and carer's allowance. Not everyone who applies is eligible, but those with a clear, solid and substantial application will receive an allowance. This also applies to family income supplement and the Department is now able to be more up to date on changes in family circumstances. These reforms, although painful for many Deputies, have produced a significant gain. I hope when we come to discuss the matter in the future, we will see similar gains to the benefit of everyone in the local community, as well as getting people back to work.