Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Before coming to this meeting I spoke to a number of union representatives who represent members who work in the office. To be honest, it was not a good experience in that they felt many of the staff were demoralised in respect of a number of issues. I will outline them to the witness and she can respond because, obviously, we must have both sides of the equation. They had difficulty explaining a number of issues for many of the people the office serves. There were issues relating to overpayments, delays and mistakes with pension payments, which had not happened previously, delays of two to three months with the payment of increments, which had not happened previously, delays with leave applications, particularly applications for parental leave for some reason, and mistakes and misunderstandings regarding starting pay when people get promoted or moved. A specific issue raised with me, which is quite unique, relates to the early shutdown of payroll before Christmas, which meant some people on lower wages did not get the overtime payments they were depending on for Christmas. Another relates to delays in issuing P60s. The Chairman asked about that earlier, probably for the same reason. Does the witness wish to comment on those issues? Are they accurate?