Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Ms O'Donoghue for attending today. I will go back to the rent allowance issue, because it is really bugging me. I object to Ms O'Donoghue's comment that people stay in a house because they want to live in that house. She spoke about the criteria for the 2,000 who are getting special provision. In my clinics in Athlone and Mullingar, nobody stays in a house because they choose to live in the house. They stay in the house or they try to stay in the house because they are desperate to put a roof over their family's heads.

Has each social welfare office been informed that this is what it should do? As the Chairman said, it is much more cost-effective to keep a family in a home than to pay hotel bills for their accommodation. To what extent have individual offices been encouraged to do that? It is not about how cost-effective it is, how much money is being saved or child protection issues; rather, it is about people's quality of life. I am being parochial in saying that I do not know of anybody who has come into my constituency clinic in Mullingar or Athlone who is choosing to stay in a house because they like to live in that place. They are desperate to keep a roof of the heads of their family members. I object to that claim completely. Will Ms O'Donoghue tell me specifically how each office has been encouraged to keep families in their homes? Also, can she give me a breakdown of the numbers?

I have ask Ms O'Donoghue a few more questions and she can respond to them all together. How many social welfare offices are there nationwide? I ask that question in regard to the overtime that has been paid. It is indicated on page 4 of our document that €3.9 million has been spent on overtime for 2,113 departmental staff in 2013. Of this number, 43 employees received overtime payments of €10,000 or more. One of the payments was for €21,000. I would like to know the breakdown of those overtime payments throughout the country. In respect of how many offices nationwide was that €3.9 million spent? Would it not have been better to employ more people in those offices than to pay staff overtime, as that would have ensured there was continuity of work, that desks were being cleared of work and that the backlogs were being cleared?

On the issue of non-compliance with procurement plans, Ms O'Donoghue said that she was aware of the Department's obligations in that regard. There was the integration of the different elements in 2012. Am I led to believe that prior to 2012 there were was no non-compliance with national procurement plans because it was one unit and it complied completely? Ms O'Donoghue said that 16 out of 22 contracts were new contracts. Are they completely new providers? What type of product or service do they cover? She said that two out of 22 were no longer required. What are those two that are no longer required?