Dáil debates

Tuesday, 29 January 2013

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions

Information and Communications Technology

2:55 pm

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the steps she is taking to ensure the efficient operation of computer systems within her Department in order to allow for the effective management of information and to cross reference data with other State agencies such as the Revenue Commissioners; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4440/13]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department of Social Protection has a number of systems which have been developed over many years to enable it to pay multiple groups of clients and manage data in regard to the various schemes. These systems reliably deliver over 87 million payments yearly between them. Although developed independently, mechanisms exist on its major systems whereby significant changes made to customer or claim details are automatically notified to other systems.

I apologise for all the technical jargon. Basically, the Department is building a single ICT platform, known as the Business Object Model implementation, or BOMi. The work is carried out as part of the Department’s continuous service delivery modernisation, SDM, programme. As this programme progresses, all the Department’s client and claim related systems will be integrated into the one platform, ensuring that all client and claim information is fully and automatically available across all of the Department’s schemes and places of business.

A high-level group, established between the Department and the Revenue Commissioners, co-ordinates issues of mutual concern between the two organisations, including information sharing. Further information sharing initiatives are put in place as new requirements are identified and specified. The Department also works closely with other agencies to mitigate social welfare abuse and to help them in dealing with their own clients; for example, the Department provides validated information to over 50 other agencies in regard to life events and deaths.

A key priority for the Department is to ensure that fraudulent activity within the social welfare system is vigorously prevented and combated. Social welfare fraud undermines confidence in the entire system. We are co-operating, for example, with the Revenue Commissioners, the Irish Prison Service, the third level institutions, the General Register Office, the Commission on Taxi Regulation, the Department of Work & Pensions in the UK and the Probate Office, just to mention some of the offices with which we co-operate and share information.

Photo of Thomas PringleThomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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On a point that is not within the Minister's control, the question listed on the Order Paper is not the question I submitted to the Department and leaves out a substantial part of the question, although the Minister addressed that part in her reply, for which I thank her as I had thought I might have to raise the issue separately. Nonetheless, as the Questions Paper should reflect the question that was actually submitted by the Member, I am disappointed.

Throughout last year, I was trying to carry out research in regard to child benefit payments and social welfare recipients. In trying to get the information for that through parliamentary questions, I discovered that different computer platforms, as they are known, in the Department cannot yet cross-reference with each other. This is a very out-of-date system for any Department, particularly one as important as the Department of Social Protection.

I welcome the answer that they are building a single ICT platform to deal with this. What is its delivery date? How fast is it progressing and will it be on target?

3:05 pm

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Deputy is correct in saying the Department of Social Protection's systems are separate and, to some degree, in silos. Ultimately, with the development of modern IT and cloud computing systems and other developments, one can envisage a situation where over time they will be brought together. From my experience as a Minister for the past year and three quarters, one has to be very careful when one changes systems that the person receiving the income from that system is not placed at a serious disadvantage. Further to Deputy Willie O'Dea's question about disability allowance applications and applications for domiciliary care allowance, we upgraded that system, but the upgrade took a long time to complete because we had to pay existing clients, include new applications in the new system and deal with the backlog. One thing I have learned is that it takes some time, but the Department is working on the system and will develop it. We have already achieved a significant number of serious reforms and, as I said to Deputy Joan Collins, people using the new offices are finding that the payment process is much faster. For instance, the office for in Donegal which is now handling FIS payments has made tremendous improvements in its processing times with the result that there is no backlog. Therefore, it does produce results, but it takes time to manage the changeover.