Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. Their recommendation for a monitoring unit is very positive. On the question of name badges, I represent a rural constituency and people generally know the staff working in the local social welfare office. A problem I see with this proposal, however, is that it might lead to the closure of smaller social welfare offices and their amalgamation into larger centres. That has implications for staff and their workload and for the public availing of the services.

Have the delegates examined the idea of people being visited by officials in their homes? Some people, including immigrants, have difficulty travelling to meet the social welfare officer. If such persons could be accommodated by way of home visits, there would be an opportunity to build good relations. Have the delegates found this to be an issue for immigrants?

On the issue of interpreters, this is something that would take some organisation in a context where different offices might not have precise data on how many different nationalities will be availing of their services. I have just left a meeting with a delegation from Ukraine. We knew these visitors were coming, so we arranged an interpreter to facilitate the meeting. However, how practical is to say social welfare offices should make better use of interpreters? The first difficulty is knowing which languages are required and recruiting the appropriate interpreters.