Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

——and they are also people who are used to getting up and going to work so they tend to arrive before the offices are open. The streamlining process will help.

The average processing times for applications processed in February was three weeks for jobseeker's benefit claims and six weeks for jobseeker's allowance claims. That is the average nationally but, as I indicated, there are variations between offices. The length of time it takes to process claims varies and depends not only on the availability of staff in a given office but also on the complexity of the claim, the provision of the necessary documentation from the applicant or his or her employer and the need to carry out additional inquiries including assessment of means. That is why it takes longer to process jobseeker's allowance claims. By providing extra staff and improving the processing of claims, we are trying to ensure that the process is as efficient as it can be. I accept that processing times are still too long in some areas but in many big offices the processing times are very quick and perhaps other offices can learn lessons from them. We will continue to take the necessary steps to improve the situation and we will keep matters under review.

Deputies paid tribute to community welfare officers. If people need support while they are awaiting a decision on their jobseeker's payment they can apply for a supplementary welfare allowance, SWA. In the same way as social welfare staff are under pressure, the same is true of community welfare officers. The latter are still employed by the Health Service Executive even though they administer the scheme for the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Expenditure in that area is under our control. There has been a long drawn out process to bring over community welfare officers to the Department of Social and Family Affairs and I hope we can conclude the process as quickly as possible.

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