Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Public Accounts Committee
2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011
12:55 pm
Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:
The assurances we get come from the fact that the number of beneficiaries has increased very substantially. Whether people choose to avail of the services is an added dimension on which I wish absolutely that we had better information. The facility is there for people to avail of it. The type of service has improved enormously in terms of the extension to eradicate the peak travel restrictions and the extension to bring in other modes of transport. Those would all provide some assurance, albeit not to the level about which I am being asked.