Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I am not particularly interested in the average processing times the Minister has been giving out in the past number of weeks. What I am interested in is when the 202 additional staff she referred to will be in situ and when every social welfare office in the country will be processing claims within the average time about which the Minister likes to speak. Throughout the country, in Navan, Tuam, Clonakilty, Tullow — I could name one town after another — people are waiting 11 and 12 weeks and they are getting into more and more debt as they wait. There is a knock-on effect which the Minister has not dealt with or spoken about yet because she continues to tell people that if they are being delayed they can go to community welfare officers. Those same community welfare officers are inundated with people applying, particularly in the areas where the dole queues are as long as they are now. In respect of the 202 staff the Minister is talking about, I want to know the exact date each of them will be in situ.

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