Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Approximately 3,000 staff have now been deployed to do the ordinary, day-to-day work. This figure includes the additional 1,700 staff to whom I referred. As Deputy Willie O'Dea may be aware from conversations with people in Limerick, we have decided to integrate the FÁS service in order that it is no longer a stand-alone service run by former FÁS personnel. Similarly, the community welfare service is no longer a stand-alone service. One of the consequences of this process of integration is that we can draw on people with different experiences, which allows us to provide a much better service in the new Intreo offices. Under the old system, somebody who was unable to sort out a claim for jobseeker's benefit or allowance in the local social welfare office was sent to a community welfare officer in a different office to be put on an assistance payment while the claim was being processed. In the new Intreo offices the claims will be processed relatively quickly in order that for many applicants there will no longer be a need to claim supplementary welfare assistance. That is why we have been able to bring community welfare officers into the general activities of the Department, including activation measures. Community welfare officers are particularly skilled at interviewing.