Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

This new arrangement is a result of the localisation of the payment of one-parent family allowances which has reduced the processing time from 16 weeks to seven weeks. When preparing my response to the Deputy's question I read the background material, including the circular that issued about this change. It states that payments will be in the post office on Thursday and must be collected by Tuesday. I have instructed the Department to re-examine that urgently and instructed that a period of two weeks at least be allowed. It is not clear whether I can do this but I will know within a week or two if it is technically possible to do so.

I appreciate the Deputy's raising the matter and agree that the stated period is too short. This constraint already affects people on unemployment assistance and benefit and the computers in the post office network are set up on this basis. That is why the change was made. It was not to inconvenience anybody. I give an assurance that no lone parent will be without his or her funds for any period while we go through this process. Electronic funds transfer is available to people in the welfare system and an increasing number of people avail of it. They find it secure and easy to manage.

I ordered that review in recent days and specifically proposed that we push the time limit out to two or three weeks, but probably not much beyond that. Even within the existing period the funds do not disappear. One must make other arrangements to collect one's money because it cannot languish indefinitely in the post office.

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