Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, and I would like the Deputy to listen to this, I did not close this office. It was being run by a branch manager on a contract. Unfortunately, he got sick, he had to retire and that is why the office closed.

My Department acted quickly to put alternative arrangements in place to serve the people of Castlepollard. We keep this under review on an ongoing basis but we have to target resources where the demand is. If the claim load increases and we need to expand the services, we will do that.

There is a misunderstanding here. No payments are collected in the social welfare office. They are collected in the post office. People continue to collect their payments and the footfall is still there from people collecting their payments. Indeed, when Covid restrictions passed, I was the one who made the decision that people would go back and collect their money in the post office. When they do that, they are more likely to spend their money locally.

I want to see people spending their money locally, just as the Deputy does. I worked closely with Mr. Ned O'Hara and the Irish Postmasters' Union to make sure that people went back into the post office.

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