Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that we are now looking at the recruitment of 80 staff. I do not think anybody who has been in a constituency office of any party over the past while will not consider that as an absolute necessity. What is the timeline? I am not taking away from the considerable work that has been done by community welfare officers and those working in administration in the back office but, the fact is that there is a considerable backlog. In fairness, some of that is down to our being in a cost-of-living crisis. People are under severe pressure. The advertising campaign that has been carried out has had a considerable impact. We have dealt with a considerable number of people who have been putting in genuine claims. I will be honest. Occasionally one comes across people and one is fairly sure they should not be making these claims. We generally try to deal with them at our office in order that they do not clog up the social protection offices.

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