Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I wish to express my extreme concern and anger at how State services deal with my constituents. I am referring to customers of State services, in particular, people on social welfare and on housing lists. These are the most vulnerable people in society who are in poor housing and on low incomes. I am referring to people whose documents are consistently going missing, who are being asked repeatedly to provide the same documents and whose cheque payments have been stopped on them. At the end of the week their money has been used up but their payments are not available, in some cases unjustifiably so. When I speak to the management it can be sorted out in two or three hours. This is unacceptable. In the case of missing documents the response from front-line staff is often that they do not have them and the applicant will need to bring them again. I am sure many Senators are familiar with this situation.

I worked in the private sector before I became a full-time politician when I was elected to this House. Inefficiencies such as loss of documents would not be acceptable in the private sector and they cannot be acceptable in the supply of State services. The management in these Departments talk the talk about customers but there is a serious gap between the rhetoric of the management and on the websites and customer charters and what is happening locally. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs should come to the House to explain that gap and why these most vulnerable people are being treated so disgracefully.