Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Turning to how the Department's functions, there is a very different narrative. I take the point made by Deputy Connolly. I must say that it jars with me as well. It is very difficult when one hears the narrative about people not being tax compliant. It is called aggressive tax planning and there is talk of loopholes. Even the Government refuses to take an appeal involving a large amount of money. There is a presumption of honesty in respect of taxpayers while there is a narrative around fraud when it comes to social protection. I completely accept that the Department has a function in making sure people get what they are entitled to and nothing more but that narrative is important and it is important that it is balanced when it is being talked about.

There have been a number of changes in how the Department works. The community welfare officers used to be related to the HSE but are now within the Department. They had a much wider function but the number of offices people can visit has been seriously reduced and is being further reduced. This means that people are finding it more difficult, for example, their phone calls are not answered. Has this been a cost saving exercise? Since some of the offices have closed, I have noticed that I end up answering far more questions. You get the questions anyway but I think the Department is taking face-to-face interaction with the public out of the system. Is that saving money? What is the point in doing that? If there is no point, why would the Department do it?