Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator. Unemployment supports for people who have lost their jobs, namely, the jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit, are administered in County Donegal from local offices located in Letterkenny, Buncrana, Dunfanaghy, Dungloe and Donegal town, in addition to branch offices under contract to the Department in Donegal town, Ballybofey, Ballyshannon and Killybegs.

The number of people on the live register in Donegal has increased by 62% in the past year, leading to a similar increase in the claims being received for jobseeker's assistance and jobseeker's benefit payments. A total of 11,495 such claims were received in the Donegal local and branch offices in the first ten months of 2007. This compares with 17,820 claims in the first ten months of 2008.

In addition to dealing with jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit payments, the Department's local and branch offices in Donegal deal with supports for farmers under the farm assistance allowance scheme, supports for those seeking to resume employment or return to full-time education under the back-to-work and back-to-education allowance schemes and supports for lone parents under the one-parent family payment scheme.

Despite the significant increase in the numbers claiming jobseeker's allowance and benefit, and the intake of claims for the other supports, every effort is being made to ensure that claims are processed and paid, where due, as speedily as possible. On average, 62% of jobseeker's allowance claims and 80% of jobseeker's benefit claims are being processed within two weeks of application.

While every effort is made to process claims speedily, delays sometimes arise where investigations into qualifying conditions, such as means in the case of jobseeker's allowance, or social insurance contributions in the case of jobseeker's benefit, are required. Delays can also occur where applicants are required to supply information or documentation from employers or other sources. Recognising the difficulty such delays can cause for those who require these supports when becoming unemployed, every effort is made to assist applicants in the completion of application forms, in their interviews with local inspectors and in obtaining all necessary documentation in support of their applications. Delays are usually experienced only in cases in which essential information or documentation is outstanding.

The Department reviews its business processes on an ongoing basis to ensure streamlined service delivery in these times of increasing demand for unemployment supports. Initiatives in this respect include the fast-tracking of straightforward cases, a speedier decision mechanism in local offices in cases where the claim form indicates further investigation by an inspector or the local office is unwarranted and interim decisions on claims in respect of which certain outstanding documentation is not considered critical. A proactive approach to dealing with new applications for jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit is also undertaken in circumstances where it is known when a company plans to lay off staff. In such circumstances, officials from the Department's local offices may visit the company and advise on the completion of the application forms, or the company may supply a list of those to be laid off, stating the date from which this will occur. The local office will then commence work immediately on these cases. This year, additional staffing resources have been allocated to the local office network to deal with jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit claims and it is planned to allocate further resources over the coming months.

A delay of up to two months in the payment of an entitlement to an unemployment support would be exceptional in County Donegal. However, all applicants for these payments are entitled to make a claim for supplementary welfare allowance at the local Health Service Executive, HSE, centre pending the outcome of investigations, supply of supporting documentation and a decision on the claim.