Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

To say people can get supplementary welfare allowance while waiting to get their claim processed is incorrect. They cannot do that because there are waiting lists to see community welfare officers. The failure to tackle the waiting lists within the Minister's Department is putting enormous pressure on the community welfare service and organisations like MABS and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. People are going without food and other essentials because the services cannot cope with the demand. The Minister quoted figures but the reality is that no improvement has taken place in waiting times, the most recent figures have shown that 39 offices have waiting times of over two months for jobseeker's allowance.

Whatever about jobseeker's allowance, what about jobseeker's benefit, which is a simple matter of checking a person's social insurance record? Although no means testing is involved, waiting times in some offices are more than nine weeks. How can that be explained?

The Minister must get the finger out and get moving. There is a deluge of applications and people are being left to wait for a payment of any kind. They simply cannot survive in those circumstances. It is unacceptable that a basic public service such as social welfare is not accessible to people when they need it.

I want the Minister to tell the House exactly how many additional posts have been sanctioned for the Department. She mentioned 300 posts. Are all of those 300 in place? How many additional staff will be needed and how many have been sanctioned by the Department of Finance to date?

Can the Minister pinpoint where exactly delays exist in the Department? Are they in means testing, in assessing habitual residence or at the frontline? Where are the blockages? The Minister must be specific as she goes about tackling this problem because her efforts to date have not been sufficient.

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