Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

They came up against IR difficulties in their branch offices, yet now it has been spread and is working successfully. There is a particular difficulty with 14 of the branch offices, including some of those the Deputy mentioned. The local office support units are working specifically with those to try to reduce their claims, with Boyle being a case in point. Deciding officers have moved into some branch offices for a short time to free up the decision-making process and to work with them. The particular issue seems to rest with the branch offices.

There has been a meeting with the branch officers and another is taking place today to address these issues because their claims are then sent to the local office. Different processing arrangements are being put in place to try to improve those particular offices.

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