Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, after line 29, to insert the following: “Report on provision and cost of community welfare officers

4.The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on the currently prevailing levels of provision of, and accessibility to, community welfare officers and on the additional recruitment and other costs that would be entailed in ensuring that a community welfare officer was available for consultation by members of the public in all social welfare offices during ordinary hours of business.”.

I tabled this amendment because I wish to raise again the issue of community welfare officer service in the context of ensuring that people who need face-to-face meetings with community welfare officers will have that option available to them. I appreciate that last night the Minister categorically stated that such a service exists whereby if somebody wants to make an appointment, he or she can do so. We all recognise the vital service that community welfare officers provide. There is a sense, however, from my perspective as a typical constituency Deputy, that there are places throughout this State where this service existed once upon a time but where it no longer exists. In those areas, the service is moving away from the customer.

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is extremely important. The figures up to the end of September 2022 show that there is a range of services provided, including: support with bills; child-related payments; support with clothing; support with funerals; support with general housing needs; illness expenses; and urgent needs payments. Up to the end of September 2022, nearly €40 million was paid out.

It is a vital service of which we are all very protective, including the Minister, because it gets money to people who need it the most: those who are at a risk of poverty. It is such a flexible way in which to resource people who so badly need resources across a plethora of payments. The discretionary element of it is so vital that it must be protected.

The basis of the amendment is to ask that the Minister would lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas on the current prevailing levels of provision of and accessibility to community welfare officers, CWOs, and on the additional recruitment and other costs that would be entailed in ensuring a community welfare officer is available for consultation by members of the public in all social welfare offices during ordinary hours of business.

The Minister may tell us that people have access to Intreo offices. We can take as a given the fact that most people have transport now, but not everybody does. I have witnessed scenarios where people do not have access to either public or private transport, who rely on taxis. For them to move away from the clinic type arrangement that once existed to now having to go to their nearest town, which could be 20 km or 30 km away, to avail of an Intreo service puts the service that bit farther away from them. All I am calling for in this amendment is that we would at least have some degree of an assessment of how the service is working and recognise the importance of it.

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