Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator McCarthy for raising this important issue. As he said, many of my colleagues from both Houses from the area have raised this issue with me in the recent past. I understand the importance of the office and its impact locally, particularly on our customers. The Department delivers a front-line service to its customers through a network of 59 local offices and 66 branch offices countrywide. The main services provided from these offices include jobseekers' payments, one-parent family payment and a customer information service. The 59 local offices are staffed by departmental staff and the branch offices are run by branch managers who are employed under a contract for service by the Department to administer certain social welfare services to members of the public in their catchment areas.

As explained to the Seanad previously, due to the sad and untimely death of the branch manager in Dunmanway arrangements had to be put in place immediately to ensure continuity of service to customers. All claims originally catered for in Dunmanway were transferred to the Department's office in Bantry as an interim arrangement to ensure that payments were not interrupted. The number of customers involved was approximately 350 and arrangements were subsequently made to distribute the claims between five neighbouring branch offices in Bandon, Bantry, Clonakilty, Macroom and Skibbereen.

In cases where customers are living more than 16 km from their designated branch office, their signing arrangements were changed to quarterly signing as opposed to the normal monthly signing arrangements. This means that these customers need only call to the branch office once every three months. Service to customers has not been interrupted by these arrangements and payments are continuing as they fall due. It is open to people residing in the Dunmanway catchment area who become unemployed to make a claim for jobseekers' benefit or allowance at any of our offices convenient to them.

It is open to people residing in the Dunmanway catchment area who become unemployed to make a claim for jobseeker's benefit at any of our offices convenient to them. Customers claiming illness benefit can forward medical certificates direct to the illness benefit section in Dublin, or to any local office or branch office. There is a social welfare inspector located in Dunmanway and this service is being maintained. The office of the inspector is open to the public on Tuesday mornings and deals with any information queries.

A strategic review of customer-facing services is being undertaken this year, as provided for in the Department's modernisation action plan. The purpose of this review is to determine what services will be delivered in the Department's front-line environment in the future. This review is being undertaken to identify the range of the Department's customer-facing services and related activities that would be most appropriately delivered in a front-line environment, the locations from which these services would be best delivered, and the layout of the offices that would enable optimum delivery of these services.

Having considered the nature and extent of future customer facing services, the terms of reference for this review provide for recommendations on the criteria used to determine the locations in which the Department should have a local office or branch office presence. The position on the branch office in Dunmanway will be considered in the light of the outcome of this review. I say that genuinely to the Senator. There is a review taking place at the moment and I am obliged to take account of what has happened in Dunmanway. I would like to bring it to a resolution as quickly as possible.