Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am certainly not late to this issue. On one day in recent months my office handled 17 separate complaints, including one from an individual from an estate within walking distance of the Minister's office who was not able to get any satisfaction from that office. Another case the Minister describes as a party is that of a lady with breast cancer who initially came to me through a pharmacist and who could not get a medical card. She told me that the reason she could not afford her medicine was because her illness benefit had not been paid. We took that on as a separate issue. That is what the Minister describes as a party. It is no party for my constituents. If a bank were to do this to these constituents, if it were to deprive them of money through negligence, not only would the money be repaid but interest and compensation would be paid. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection needs to look at itself extremely carefully. For the Minister to describe this as a party is absolutely devastating for the constituents affected. We have raised this on numerous occasions. I thank the staff because when a Deputy's office rings there is a mechanism with the Department to sort these issues out relatively quickly once that call is made. I feel sorry for those constituents who did not think to ring a Deputy's office or who could not get through on the phone lines. I thank the staff but the Department must come up with better than criticising the Opposition and describing the issue as a party.

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