Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Deputy's concerns are shared by everyone. This represents a major change for the Department, which took in an extra 1,000 employees from the Community Welfare Service, CWS, an extra 700 employees from the FÁS employment services and approximately 300 people who work in local employment service companies to provide one-to-one monitoring. We are also investing heavily in the roll-out of additional computer systems and other developments, for example, the personal services card.

It is all change in the Department. Many of the additional CWS and FÁS personnel have considerable experience of one-to-one interactions with clients and customers, which is precisely the kind of background and experience that is required when providing intensive help to someone who has unfortunately become long-term unemployed.

As to resourcing the roll-out, staff in the public service are committed under the Croke Park agreement to responding to the requirements for change. Since I became Minister, intensive work has been under way in this regard. The Department's senior management is continuously and actively engaged in the process.

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