Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I am also concerned about training. I used to work in HR in An Post. We had staff who were there for 30 or 35 years. The experience they could bring to newer recruits or people who came to the section was invaluable. As regards the role of social welfare payments officers in particular, it was always the case their training gave them the ability to be able to make independent decisions. I hope those kind of decisions will remain the same and there is a clear message in the Department in that regard.

I agree with what the Minister and Department said about the trade union movement. Unless we get feedback from both sides so that we can come to a decision ourselves, there will be questionable situations from the point of view of the trade union and workers. It is very important we bring that to these sort of meetings. I will leave it at that but I might come back in.