Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On special needs payments, the Deputy will appreciate that when this system operated in the old health boards and Health Service Executive it involved different regions or area and the level of oversight was limited to perhaps a town or region. In some areas, there was a strong tradition of making a payment for certain events, while the same payment may have been unheard of in other areas. The most striking payment, one which the Deputy and I have discussed previously, was the custom in Dublin of paying a special needs payment of approximately €300 for a holy communion ceremony. In many other counties, especially in the north west, no one had heard of this payment and none was made. When the community welfare officers joined the Department much more information became available at national level on different practices at local level. What we have done is standardised special needs payments and set out maximum payments for the purchase of items such as prams, buggies, cots, child and adult clothing and certain household appliances. This is a reasonable approach as the information collected at national and local level shows a significant convergence in prices nationwide when one takes into account large stores specialising in particular areas. The Department's decision to cease paying money for religious ceremonies last year contributed to the reduction in expenditure on special needs payments from €52 million in 2012 to €35.6 million in 2013.

On the issue of accessibility, those who are in receipt of a jobseeker's payment or social welfare assistance payment must regularly attend their local Intreo or social welfare office to sign on and confirm they are still in the country and available for work. It makes sense to locate the community welfare service either in Intreo or social welfare offices or close to them given that their customers are attending these offices in any case. The Department has greatly increased its use of an appointments system. The practice in the past was that a large number of officials held a clinic for one hour each week or fortnight which was attended by a couple of people or perhaps no one. Given that people are visiting their local office regularly for different purposes, it makes sense, in a time of scarce resources, to provide the service in these offices.

We are also providing a telephone service. As Deputy Ó Snodaigh will be aware, many people do not want to queue up in a public office and would prefer to do their business privately. Modern technology and communications provide significant scope for contacting community welfare service officers by telephone. As a result of changes we have introduced, customers are offered a dedicated service and officers will call to a person's home by arrangement. We are introducing a more modernised service, with modern information technology and telephone contact. I accompanied community welfare service officers visiting those who were worst affected by floods. As Deputies will agree, they provide a compassionate and considerate service to families who have been affected by disasters.

On staffing numbers, we have more than doubled the number of employment services officers to approximately 800. The local employment services were introduced with the FÁS employment services and are very valuable. We are utilising them very extensively to help unemployed people, particularly those who are far from the labour market, on their journey back to work or education. Members will also be familiar with these services from their localities.

As I noted earlier, in 2009 we saw a catastrophic increase in the number of people on the live register. Over a three year period, the number increased by more than 250,000 people. As we get people back to work, I hope the numbers seeking to avail of these services will continue to fall. The catastrophic fall in employment in the period leading up to the change of Government created a large backlog of cases. We will seek to obtain additional assistance to deal with this spike, as we have done with success through the local employment services. A number of other organisations also provide a dedicated service and significant assistance to people. For instance, Congress centres provide a range of information services in a number of different locations. I am anxious to see not only the commercial private sector but potentially also the not-for-profit sector tendering for and being involved in some of this work. It would help us to identify employment opportunities and get people back to work faster and be of service to employers.

There are different international ratios in respect of the number of unemployed persons per case worker. We have been taking advice on this matter and we will examine contracts on a periodic basis to make up the deficits in line with what the Government agrees is appropriate given the numbers of unemployed people in need of assistance.