Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Deputies also asked about the numbers of staff within the Department. I thank those Deputies on the Opposition benches who paid tribute to the departmental staff. Some generous and well deserved comments were made in regard to their dealings with staff in local offices. Following a review of staffing, we have placed additional personnel in the offices that were under particular pressure because of the increase in applications. An additional 115 staff will be allocated shortly to those offices. At all times our main concern is to ensure that those people who need social welfare support can access it efficiently and quickly.

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