Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I thank the Minister for his reply. I note that apart from my constituent, others also contacted me about this issue. When people rang the Department, it was accepted that they had not provided incorrect information or anything like that. It was accepted that it was a problem within the Department, that it would be sorted out within a couple of days and that the people would get their payments. My constituent rang the Department repeatedly and was told the same thing again and again. The individual contacted the Department at least 11 times and was told about the problem with digitising. Although the Department accepted that my constituent had not provided incorrect information and would be paid, the individual concerned still was not paid.

I do not know whether the Minister is familiar with the television programme, "Little Britain". One of the characters it features is a person who works for a travel agent. Every time a customer asks for something, the person working behind a desk looks up and says, "the computer says No". This is what is happening in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Even though it is accepted that a problem exists when a human speaks to a human down the telephone line, on the replacement of the telephone receiver, the computer system takes over again and the computer says "No". That cannot be acceptable and makes a joke out of civil servants.

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