Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, to the House and I congratulate her on her appointment. I was one of the first people to meet her on the day of her appointment and I wish her well in her Ministry. I know her brother, Deputy Tom Kitt, quite well.

I have raised the issue of the local social welfare office on a number of occasions in this House. To put it in its historical context, this matter goes back to two years ago. I declare an interest in that the late Mr. Kieran McCarthy who managed the branch office in Dunmanway was a cousin of mine. He died unexpectedly in July 2007. He ran that office very professionally. Since his death, the office has remained closed. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs has not made a statement as to whether its closure is permanent but as it is two years since it closed we must assume it is. However, I wish to hold on to any chink of hope that may exist.

This office provided a very important local service. We are all aware of the plight of the unemployed and, given that the rate of unemployment is now alarming, this issue is more urgent than it was when the office closed. Dunmanway is no different from any other part of west Cork or County Cork, or any other part of the country, in terms of unemployment figures. There was a high dependency on the construction industry in Dunmanway and it had just recovered from the loss of 119 manufacturing jobs through the closure of the company which manufactured surgical gowns. It also experienced and is in the process of experiencing the transfer of jobs from Dunmanway to Macroom in O'Donovan Medical, a firm making aluminium joints. A substantial number of jobs have been lost to the area although salaries will be retained in the local economy because people will not move. Nonetheless, a significant number of people will be moving out of the area.

The closure of the local social welfare office has caused considerable discomfort to people who have lost their jobs, those who need to access a local unemployment office and to meet an official over the counter, a person who is familiar to them, a person who can give them advice and assistance with application for a job-seeker's payment. I have been in the office on a couple of occasions and it is not very edifying to stand in a queue for social welfare assistance. It is an awful experience and more so in the current climate because of people's debt levels and responsibilities. Going from having a well remunerated job to unemployment is very daunting and traumatic and is a personal tragedy.

People in Dunmanway must now travel to other west Cork towns, Macroom, Skibbereen, Bandon, Clonakilty and Bantry, for social welfare assistance. There is no Luas tram in west Cork and unemployed people who do not have access to personal transport find it difficult enough to pay bills never mind finance transport. There is a bus service but unfortunately CIE thinks it is not worth while to make a bus service available in west Cork. It is cutting the service from Skibbereen to Baltimore, which is the harbour for the islands of Sherkin and Cape Clear. This is a controversial local issue because people depend on that bus service. There is no bus service that connects to other west Cork towns. There is only a limited service which people are happy to use but it is not the solution for those who are unemployed.

There is a premises and local expertise is available among the people who worked in the office previously. There is local demand for the service, which should be reinstated. I request the Minister of State to urge her colleagues in government to consider this matter. It would be a way of showing a commitment to the people of the area. The Government should acknowledge that the service was discontinued as a result of a tragic event, but that does not mean it cannot be reinstated. As a public representative, I have been monitoring the unemployment figures for the whole area, not just Dunmanway. I am sure that the Cathaoirleach has been monitoring his area. When the figures become available, we examine them and make a political case for upskilling and training to ensure that people do not become locked into the long-term unemployment that was the blight of this country in the 1980s. We need to avoid that situation recurring.

Making an overall judgment of the unemployment figures in my area is impossible. Since people are feeding into other social welfare offices, we do not have a particular set of figures. However, many more people need the service locally than needed it two years ago. I urge the Minister of State to consider the matter, which I raised in the House previously. The constituency of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, includes the area in question. I made the point to him that some of his constituents were using the service. Obviously, no one will travel from County Kildare to west County Cork to do so, but we must reinstate this important service.