Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I welcome the Minister. From speaking to people who go to the labour exchanges, the impression I get is that the service provided in the recent past is very different. The service is more streamlined, more efficient, more humane and more dynamic. Perhaps much of that has to do with the Minister because of the compassion, the passion and the skills she brought to it. For people who now go to the social welfare dole office, I think it is a much more dynamic encounter than previously and invariably there are always practical outcomes for many people. People will say they are going to the local employment service. That combination of the dole office and the local employment service is a great presence in working class communities, those two offices working together, working one off the other. I think the local employment service is the silent partner in the whole business of getting people back to work and combatting poverty. It is very positive.