Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the concerns of the Deputies about the retention of the Department's offices in Ballybay.

Twenty nine staff occupying two adjoining buildings on Main Street, Ballybay, County Monaghan were redeployed from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the Department of Social Protection in July 2012. The staff are engaged in the processing of the public services card, PSC, which is intended to enable individuals to gain access to public services more efficiently and with the minimum of duplication of effort, while at the same time preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible. The card has been designed to replace others within the public sector such as the free travel pass and the social services card of my Department and to make it easy for providers of public services to verify the identity of customers.

The PSC project is a key initiative under the public service reform plan, with the aim of expanding the use of the public services card to cover a greater range of services. PSC registration is being expanded to encompass all departmental scheme customers and, over time, the adult population of Ireland. PSC operations in Ballybay have been expanded to include eight additional temporary staff. The two current buildings are in separate ownership. Unfortunately, they are in poor condition and not considered appropriate for the existing business processes or to accommodate the recently expanded or future operational requirements.

A brief of requirements was sent to the OPW which has been working to identify alternative locations to which the functions could be relocated. The OPW has advised me that it has investigated all of the options in Ballybay and inspected a number of properties with a view to adapting a number of buildings to meet the requirements of the Department of Social Protection. The position is that a significant investment would be required to bring the proposed properties up to modern standards. In addition, other technical surveys and reports, planning permission, fire certification and physical works would take approximately one year to complete. Unfortunately, this timeframe is not commensurate with the Department's business requirements and it has been decided that the properties on offer in Ballybay cannot meet requirements, both in terms of cost and time. In that context, a decision has been made to move the current facilities some nine miles to Monaghan town.

The preferred location in Monaghan town is suitable for the services currently located in Ballybay. In addition, 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 which does not have a customer facing public services card office. The Office of the Chief State Solicitor is progressing the legal documents for the lease and detailed designs for the fit-out of the preferred location in Monaghan town are progressing.

I am sorry I do not have a more amenable reply for the Deputies.

See this speech in context