Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy drew attention to a number of issues. There are only two offices where there is a nine week wait for jobseeker's benefit, both of them in the Cork area. In fairness to the others, one might mention those offices where it can be done in less than a week or in two weeks. In the vast majority of offices, claims are processed in a much shorter time. I appreciate jobseeker's benefit can be done more speedily because it is based on the record and I hope the arrangement that started in the Dundalk office, where decisions were being made on the day on claims, can be extended to the rest of the country. Unfortunately the CPSU stopped that even though it was in everybody's interest, staff and applicant alike, because it can be done quickly.

The longest delays are in branch offices. Agreement was reached with the branch officers in April 2008 that they would be able to make decisions locally. At the moment, they take in the applications, which are then taken from them and given to the local office. Because local offices have their own demands, to date they have not given priority to branch offices. Agreement was reached with them in April 2008 that they could make their own decisions but the CPSU will not allow that because it claims it is outsourcing. We cannot cope with the flood coming from branch offices to local offices but this would free up staff in local offices and would benefit people.

Those are two key issues where we could have far greater cooperation. The Deputy asked about the third area, the community welfare officers. The sooner we can have an integrated process with the CWOs coming into the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the better. Again this has been blocked for years but it has been referred to the Labour Relations Commission and we expect a date for hearings shortly. SIPTU has agreed to participate, although so far IMPACT has not, and I hope we can secure agreement on the idea. That will lead to better service for everyone because it is not right that people should have to wait.

The 300 staff were put in place between May 2008 and May 2009. Some of those have been put in place in the last few months. At the start of the year we indicated that we wanted 300 staff this year so we will be looking for another 150 staff. Those staff are on their way from other Departments, there is no question of any blockage, but they must be trained and deployed in the right places.

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