Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this issue on the Adjournment. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to the House. I congratulate him on his reappointment as Minister of State. I would like to declare an interest before I start to talk about the temporary closure of the social welfare office in Dunmanway. The closure occurred when the previous branch manager of the Dunmanway service, Kay McCarthy, who was a cousin and a good friend of mine, sadly passed away in July. Her death was rather traumatic. As the Dunmanway branch has not been reopened since it closed in July, the Bantry office now has to deal with and process social welfare claims from the Dunmanway area. Three jobs have been temporarily lost as a result of this closure, which I hope is temporary. There is no difficulty in providing a premises in Dunmanway. I understand that the managers enter into a contract with the Department, which provides the premises, staff and budget, etc. There is no difficulty with accommodation in Dunmanway — there are a number of suitable premises which can house the office. The building that was being used until July is still available, to the best of my knowledge.

In this era of decentralisation, we should ensure that as many services as possible are retained in a town like Dunmanway, which is geographically at the centre of west Cork. Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Department of Transport and the Marine are well-established in Clonakilty, for example. It is particularly important that a service that is connected to an arm of the State is retained in Dunmanway, which is a sizeable, vibrant and growing community. The current arrangements are creating difficulties for the officials in Bantry, who have to cover the duties which were performed by the three staff in Dunmanway. It is proving difficult for the social welfare administrators in west Cork to deal with the problems associated with social welfare applications, such as dispensing money and obtaining documentation. An increased administrative burden is falling on the workers in Bantry. Have additional staff members been allocated to Bantry or other locations to help them to deal with the extra workload? As the Minister of State will know, it is a sizeable town and this service needs to be retained and reinstated as soon as possible.

Given the employment history of Dunmanway, it is important it does not lose this facility forever. The old manufacturing facility, Monlycke, closed in the 1990s with the loss of 120 jobs which were never replaced. This is an era of almost full employment and there may be a case to be made that, statistically, the town's employment levels are as good now as before the closure, but the people of Dunmanway want a return of this service. Can the situation be reversed and the office returned to the normal standard of service before its unforeseen closure which was caused by sad circumstances?