John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I am happy to take this important matter on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection and I thank Deputy Keating for raising it.

The quality of customer service that people receive at post offices is important to the Department and to An Post, which has responsibility for that service. The Deputy referred to the high numbers of customers collecting welfare payments at Lucan post office on Thursdays and Fridays. The Department is aware that there are instances of queuing at Lucan post office on Fridays, but An Post has advised that there is no abnormal or extensive queuing on Thursdays.

An Post and the Department have taken a number of measures to address the problems evident on Fridays. Lucan post office now opens at 8 am on Fridays. The Department is also examining the scope for moving some payments to alternative collection days in an effort to alleviate the situation. Some 240 customers who normally receive payments at Lucan post office on a Friday payday have been moved to a Tuesday payday. The process of changing payment days is complex and must be managed closely to ensure customer service is not interrupted. On foot of work over the past number of weeks, this change took effect today. The impact of this change will be monitored by the Department in consultation with An Post. The Department will continue to liaise with An Post to monitor the effectiveness of these remedies and what further scope for improvement is available.

We have been advised by An Post that there have been no queuing incidents whereby a Garda presence was requested or required at Lucan post office. The Department was made aware of delays at the post office on Friday, 23 December when longer queues developed at Lucan post office. The Deputy will appreciate that this is one of the busiest days of the year for all businesses and commercial bodies, including An Post. Given that all banking and financial institutions were closing for the Christmas period of up to five days, the queues experienced at post offices and throughout other financial institutions were exceptional.

While An Post has advised the Department of Social Protection that on Friday, 23 December no Garda presence was requested or required to manage queues, we understand gardaí were in the vicinity as part of their own operational deployment that day. The gardaí advised people waiting for service in the post office that pickpockets were active in the locality and of the need to be vigilant. An Post has advised that they do not consider there were any health and safety implications on the day.

With regard to the availability of funds at the post office, An Post has confirmed that the post office in Lucan did not run out of money on 23 December 2011. However, the Department has been advised by An Post that, due to an unusually heavy volume of business and demand for cheque encashment, Lucan post office experienced a greater than expected demand for cash late on Friday evening, 2 September. As a consequence, the postmaster was concerned that he might not be able to deal with all customers, including welfare customers, pending a further cash delivery from An Post. He, therefore, asked a small number of customers, believed to be in the order of ten or 12 social welfare customers, if they would agree to delaying the collection of their entitlements. It should be noted that the payment to customers was not refused. Additional cash was made available by An Post to Lucan post office on Saturday, 3 September and again on Monday, 5 September to deal with the higher number of transactions. An Post has advised that the ten or 12 social welfare customers who were not dealt with on the Friday or Saturday had their payments effected by the following Monday.

As the Deputy will appreciate, it is important for security reasons to ensure that excess cash is not unnecessarily held in its offices. It is also important that An Post offices have at all times adequate cash to meet the needs of its customers. This involves ongoing active management of cash at its offices. The Department of Social Protection has engaged with An Post to ensure that all its customers will be paid on their due date. An Post has given assurances that measures have been put in place to ensure that this will not happen again.

I would like to assure the Deputy that the Department will continue to work closely with An Post to ensure that together, we provide a high quality service to our customers.

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