Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to be associated with the good wishes to Liam and Shane too. They are from the Abbey School in Tipp. They performed very well yesterday, as usual.

The removal of community welfare officers, first from villages and now from towns, is a retrograde step. While we have excellent staff in Intreo offices throughout Tipperary who work hard, the removal of community welfare officers during a severe cost-of-living crisis is an issue. When he was Tánaiste, the Taoiseach said that people could go to community welfare officers. They cannot find them now. The Government has introduced a dedicated phone line so people can phone the local officers, who used to have clinics maybe twice or three times a week, but they cannot get through on that phone either.

It looks like it is to hell or to Connacht for people who want assistance from the community welfare officers. They cannot find them because the phone line is not being answered and they cannot get through. Those in the Intreo offices are doing hard work. The community welfare officers did brilliant work over the decades in which I have been involved in public life, and they still want to do it, but there is a game of hide-and-seek now, with the Government having hidden them away in some back offices. It does not want them to give out money to people. Does it want people to starve, perish and be miserable? It really is bridge-type policies it is introducing.

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