Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Deputy's concerns. He has worked extremely hard on this issue.

The 29 staff in two adjoining buildings on the main street of Ballybay, County Monaghan were redeployed from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the Department of Social Protection in July 2012. They are engaged in the processing of public service cards.

The card is intended to enable individuals to gain access to public services more efficiently and with a minimum of duplication of effort, while preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible. It has been designed to replace other cards in the public sector such as the free travel pass and the social services card and to make it easy for providers of public services to verify the identity of customers. The project is a key initiative in the public service reform plan, with the aim being to expand the use of the card to cover a greater range of services. Card registration is being expanded to encompass all departmental scheme customers and, over time, the adult population of Ireland.

The card operations in Ballybay have been expanded to include eight additional temporary staff. The two current buildings are in separate ownership and, unfortunately, poor condition and not considered appropriate for the existing business processes or future operational requirements. In this context, the Office of Public Works, OPW, has been working to identify alternative locations to which the functions could be relocated. The OPW has investigated all of the options in Ballybay and inspected a number of properties with a view to adapting buildings to meet the Department of Social Protection's requirements. I have been informed that a significant investment would be required to bring the proposed properties up to modern standards. In addition, other technical surveys and reports, planning permissions, fire certification and physical works would take approximately one year to complete. Unfortunately, this timeframe does not meet the Department's business requirements. It was decided that the properties on offer in Ballybay could not meet these requirements in terms of cost and time. In this context, a decision has been made to move the current facilities to Monaghan town where the preferred location is suitable for the services currently located in Ballybay. The location can also facilitate the Department's requirement to establish a public office for the purposes of issuing public service cards to County Monaghan residents. Monaghan is the only county that does not have a customer-facing public service card office.

As far as I am aware, the situation for all Departments is the same, in that we inform the OPW of our requirements and it sources properties. I stated this at my meetings with local Deputies and councillors. The OPW was given specifications, but I will not interfere in the sourcing. Information was sent to me on suitable buildings, including by the Deputy, and it was passed on to the OPW for investigation. The OPW reported and perhaps the Deputy might raise the issue with it. My role is not to lobby for any particular office in Ballybay. It would be preferable to keep the services there, but that is what was included in the report that was returned to us.

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