John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said that everyone has received the payments they are due. I have spoken to numerous people yesterday and today. One woman, who is a new applicant, told me yesterday that she has not received a payment for six weeks. I have spoken to another woman who was out sick and is actually back in work now, but has not yet received a payment. There are substantial issues in this area. Accountability is one such issue. I would love to see the remit or terms of reference that were given to the consultants who were involved in this process, particularly with regard to training. Certainly, the staff in the Department who were expected to administer and deal with this matter did not receive enough training. That is no reflection on the staff, who have been put under massive amounts of pressure because of the roll-out of this system, which seems to have been doomed from day one. The Secretary General told the committee that this IT platform is due to be rolled out for the one-parent family payment and for jobseekers' payments. The independent review will be critical.

I was given a commitment that the terms of reference of that independent review would be circulated. We need to get them but that review should be made public and scrutinised because lessons need to be learned from this. People have been affected unnecessarily and that must never happen again to anyone entitled to funding and a safety net from this State.

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