Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

As the House will be aware, with increasing unemployment figures, people who now sign on for social welfare are facing quite lengthy periods before the social welfare payments are processed and paid. In my constituency of Cork South-Central people are now waiting anything from nine to 12 weeks for a social welfare payment to come through. During that period individuals are directed to the community welfare service and the community welfare officer provides recently unemployed people with a supplementary welfare payment to tide them over the application period.

In the Ballyphehane-Togher area, the community welfare officer has gone on maternity leave and the HSE has not filled the post. As a result, people in Ballyphehane-Togher cannot therefore avail of a supplementary welfare payment because the post is vacant.

Earlier today I met with Professor Drumm and his team to talk about the reconfiguration of hospital services in the Cork and Kerry region. This is a very ambitious plan which will involve significant changes for the region. However, one would question the HSE's ability to project manage such a big project, given that it is unable to manage substitute cover for a community welfare officer in the Ballyphehane and Togher area. How, in the name of God will the HSE be able to reconfigure a whole hospital service for an area one quarter the size of Ireland?

The existing system is questionable in itself. It takes nine weeks for a person to receive a social welfare payment yet the community welfare officer can effect a payment within one week. This beggars belief because it must be the same system.

I am concerned that people who cannot get a supplementary welfare payment while waiting for a social welfare payment to come through, have no other option but to borrow that money. The banks will not lend them this money, they may be a member of a credit union and may receive bridging finance but this situation is driving people into the hands of moneylenders because the State is not fulfilling a function. I hope in his response that the Minister of State will provide a solution whereby a community welfare officer will be in place tomorrow morning or if he fails to achieve that goal, that some priority is given to social welfare applications in this area, given that people cannot be provided with a supplementary welfare allowance in that time.

See this speech in context