Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Undoubtedly, the use of electronic payments is the way to go because it is very secure for everybody. From the end of September 2009 no books will be printed, so that will alleviate the problem for some. Looking at what customers are paid on different days, however, even if one was to move some jobseekers to a different day they would then impact on pensioners or some other group.

Friday seems to be the worst day, with 39%, because most pensioners get their money that day. The figures are 20% on Thursday and 21% on Wednesday. Tuesday is a light day with 6%, and it is 14% on Monday.

I appreciate the points the Deputy is making, particularly about security because of the large amounts of money involved. On the other hand, however, as a measure to control fraud we had to ensure that people physically collect the money for reasons of which we are all aware. Hopefully, with other payments being made by electronic transfer it should relieve some of the pressure.

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