Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That is the broad objective. I do not want to give an actual commitment at this point because at some stage there could be a flood of additional applications. Given that unemployment is falling and people are returning to work, the chances of such a flood occurring are less than they were previously when huge numbers of people understandably turned to the Department of Social Protection as a result of the collapse in the economy, the disaster which befell the construction sector etc. As we move back into a period of slow recovery in the level of employment, the pressure on the social welfare system will ease to some degree. The new computer and processing systems are working well and, given that we have cleared all the backlogs relating to domiciliary care allowance, carer's allowance and family income supplement, I am confident people will enjoy a significantly higher quality of service. Providing such an improved service would be my objective.

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