Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

As Senator Terry is aware, the supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered by the community welfare staff of the various health boards on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. We are aware that difficulties have arisen in the service being provided to the public in the Dublin 15 area. The Northern Area Health Board is responsible for the daily administration of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme in the area concerned. The board has advised that unfortunately it is no longer offering a walk-in or face-to-face service to the public in Dublin 15 due to accommodation difficulties in the area.

The locations affected include Blanchardstown, Mulhuddart, Clonee and Hartstown. People requiring access to a community welfare officer in those areas are currently asked to telephone a freephone number to make an appointment or, alternatively, to complete a claim form and either post it or deliver it to the appropriate health centre. The community welfare officers are working overtime to deal with the volume of claims. I take this opportunity to thank the health board staff involved for their commitment in dealing with this difficult situation.

The board has advised that it felt it had no choice but to withdraw the facility of a walk-in service to the public in Dublin 15 due to the numbers of people queuing to see the community welfare officers.

The root cause of the difficulties being experienced is the large increase in the population of the area which in turn has led to an increase in the number of people seeking assistance from the community welfare officers. The health board has not as yet been able to obtain additional office accommodation because there is a shortage of such in the area. However, it is in the process of securing additional office space and is making every effort to expedite this.

In the meantime, I understand that the board will assign two more community welfare officers to the area by the end of this month. This will bring the number of community welfare officers serving the area from six to eight and will alleviate matters somewhat.

I can assure the Senator and the House that every effort is being made to ensure that the disruption of the service to the public is kept to a minimum and that the delay in processing applications is also kept to a minimum. The Department of Social and Family Affairs has been involved in discussions with the board to identify a solution which would assist in dealing with the current difficulties. The Department will continue to monitor developments with a view to ensuring that a full service is restored as quickly as possible.