Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To date this year, my Department has paid €876,000 to help people buy prams, cots and buggies for new babies. The number of applications fell slightly in 2012 compared with 2011. As Deputies are aware, many claims for a social welfare payment are not processed for weeks. With the opening of the new Intreo offices, the largest of which is located in Coolock in the Deputy's constituency, claims for jobseeker's payments and so forth are being processed much more rapidly, frequently within one week. This means that dependence on special need payments, which was a feature of the earlier system, is diminishing in practice because people are receiving their payment faster.

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