Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue for debate as a Topical Issue. It is a matter of vital importance to the population of Castletownbere on the remote Beara Peninsula. The town has a population of approximately 1,500 with perhaps twice or three times that number living on the peninsula this social welfare office serves. The office serves not only the population of the town, but also the residents of Bear Island, Dursey Island, Alhiles, Eyeries, Garish, Ardgroom and Adrigole, which are very small and remote rural parishes.

I have been informed that Department of Social Protection is proposing to cease operating its district office in Castletownbere on a weekly basis and reduce this service to once a month. Castletownbere is on the periphery of the Department of the Social Protection network and all I am asking is that one official of that Department would travel the 30 miles from Bantry to Castletownbere once a week rather than asking the clients from Castletownbere and the Beara Peninsula to travel every week to Bantry, which is more than 30 miles from Castletownbere and may be more than 45 miles from other parts of the peninsula. With two offshore islands also involved, it is quite a challenge for those on social protection.

Public transport is sporadic to say the least and to use the bus service provided by Bus Éireann would entail a two-day journey. Bus Éireann sends one bus into Castletownbere each weekday at 12.30 p.m. and it leaves half an hour later for Bantry. It is not practicable for those living on the peninsula who access social protection services to use the public transport service. The private bus services that operate only go a few times a week.

The clients of the Department of Social Protection live on a week-to-week basis and not a month-to-month basis. The Department administers more than 50 different schemes and the clients who attend the office in Castletownbere are varied. The information they receive there is very helpful and necessary. Castletownbere has high unemployment rates. CSO figures for the general Bantry area, including Castletownbere, indicate that it has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. The nature of the work in Castletownbere is often seasonal and access to the social protection office in that regard would be necessary after people finish work in the winter in the sea fishing area or in the summer in the tourism sector. Accessing unemployment benefit and information is very important for them. Travelling 30 or 40 miles or only doing this on a monthly basis will not work.

Castletownbere does not have a citizens' advice bureau and we have no family resource centre in the town, although there is one in one of the outlying parishes in Adrigole. Not only does the loss of this office impact on the direct social protection service in terms of payments for unemployment assistance or benefit, we are also losing a vital information service. The Beara Peninsula is approximately the size of County Louth, although not obviously in population terms.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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It is not as beautiful.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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That might give the Minister of State an idea of the geography involved. We are not asking for much. We just ask that the office remain open one day a week rather than the proposed monthly service in premises for which the Department already has a contract. While I know this is a very local issue, it is an important reflection of how the Department deals with vulnerable clients in peripheral areas.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I assure the Deputy that it is not proposed to close the social welfare office in Castletownbere. The Department of Social Protection is very conscious of the need to provide efficient and effective customer services at a local level throughout the country for clients while managing services with diminishing resources.

The Department has provided a service with regard to jobseeker's benefit claims in Castletownbere, via its Bantry control office, since 1995 on a weekly basis. Staff from Bantry used to attend the Castletownbere office every Wednesday and one Tuesday a month. Since the end of March, this arrangement has changed to the first Tuesday and Wednesday every month to take claims and for signing on purposes. This change was taken in the context of the business requirements of the Department in light of available resources. With the integration of the former community welfare service from the HSE and the employment and community services from FÁS into the Department, there is an expanded departmental presence in Castletownbere. In this regard, in addition to the jobseeker services mentioned, the Department also provides supplementary welfare and employment support services in Castletownbere on a weekly basis. For example, the officer who administers the supplementary welfare allowance scheme provides a service in Castletownbere every Wednesday and Friday from 10.00 am to noon. A social welfare inspector attends every Thursday and an employment services officer attends the Beara adult education centre on the first Thursday of every month from 10.30 to 12.30. I am satisfied that an adequate and appropriate level of service is being provided in Castletownbere.

Where staff vacancies arise, I assure the Deputy that the Department is expending every effort to continue to source available staff to fill critical vacancies, including those arising from retirements, by way of redeployment or transfer from within the Department and other Departments, taking account of the employment control framework target, as determined by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continuously reviewed, having regard to workloads, management priorities and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources, with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response detailing the services available currently in Castletownbere. His response confirms that the service provided is counted more in hours per month than in days per month. This gets us to the issue in respect of this particular office. We do not have a FÁS office, a citizens advice bureau, a family resource centre or the support services other towns have. While the Department claims to maintain a service, it is a critical concern that this service is being reduced from a once-a-week operation to a monthly operation. In the context of the pressures that apply in Castletownbere and the seasonal workforce, this is not adequate. I urge the Minister to consider our situation and to take into account what we have to say in respect of the overall package the Department provides for the Beara peninsula. We urge the Department to review any decision to reduce the hours being provided.

A case could easily be made for the expansion of the hours in the context of a proposal to establish a one-stop-shop on social protection to assist those who are temporarily out of work or out of work long-term to upskill and get back into the workforce. Notwithstanding the Minister of State's response, I am disappointed that because of resources, the Department is going in the opposite direction at this time when it could not be more necessary to look at this issue. I urge the Minister to review the situation of the Castletownbere office and to put more resources into operating a more holistic social protection office in Castletownbere.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I repeat that the Castletownbere office will not be closed and that where vacancies arise, they will be filled. The matter will be kept under continuous review. I have noted the Deputy's comments with regard to reviewing the workings of the Castletownbere office and his suggestion for a one-stop shop. I will bring those comments to the attention of the Minister.