Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that additional staff are being deployed. As someone who represents both an urban and rural constituency, I want to see the traditional, old-style, face-to-face interaction, and I believe that many others share this view. I take the point made by the Minister around the right of people to have access to a person where they can make an appointment.

If, however, the caseload is 75,000 applications, give or take, per annum, if I interpret the Minister correctly, and if the staff quotient is about 412, the caseload per officer is increasing, and it has become more centralised into hubs. The local discretion is being taken away and the number of officers in more remote areas is decreasing. That is my contention based on my first-hand experience. It is more an observation than a question.

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