Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

I do not propose to accept this amendment because it is inappropriate for inclusion in legislation. In particular, it is inappropriate for this Bill which only deals with budget increases. All other items which are appropriate for legislation will be dealt with in a separate Bill in the new year.

The Department has increased significantly the volume of information exchange in recent years with European Union countries and with countries that have bilateral agreements with Ireland on social security. There has been a significant increase in the number of migrant workers and the response rate to requests for information from these countries vary for different reasons, such as whether the records are centralised or regionalised in the other country or if there is a difficulty with a particular person's record.

Overall, the Department is not experiencing significant difficulties in obtaining such records. If delays are encountered in a specific case and the records are required to enable payment of a basic payment such as illness benefit or jobseeker's benefit, a person normally will be entitled to supplementary welfare allowance. The EU is preparing for the introduction of electronic exchange of information designed to simplify and speed up this process but the projected date for this to become operative is 2009.

According to the information available to me I see no need for the Department to undertake an examination of the issue or for a report to be made to the House. If the Senator has specific information regarding difficulties experienced, perhaps this information can be forwarded to the Department.