Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department is working to address the issue and hope to have it resolved quickly. It is assigning additional staff to claim processing work to enable other experienced staff to be dedicated to call answering and dealing with customer queries. It recognises that, owing to the high level of calls to the illness benefit section, customers have not been able to reach a dedicated staff member to discuss their illness benefit claim. Additional staff are being assigned from other departmental sections and will be dedicated to the customer phone line. The Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, has sought a detailed report from the Department on how the changes to the illness benefit scheme were communicated to customers, including timelines for changes and the rationale for decisions taken on timing. We are working to resolve this issue and will get it done as quickly as we can.

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