Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The Minister made a number of comments on difficulties encountered in improving processing times and indicated the main problems arise in branch offices. While I accept that major problems are occurring in branch offices, they are not confined to these offices. A brief examination of the tables supplied shows that six local offices have processing times of ten weeks or more. What action is being taken to address these unacceptable delays?

The Minister stated the CPSU objected to her attempt to introduce a system to speed up processing in branch offices. She also indicated the union objected when the Department sought to extend to other offices same day processing for jobseeker's benefit which had been working well in some areas. It would be helpful if she spelt out precisely what were the problems in this regard.

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