Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. I thank the Senator for raising this issue and for giving me the opportunity to clarify the operation of the community welfare service in Leopardstown-Ballyogan and related issues.

The community welfare service, currently run by the Health Service Executive, administers the supplementary welfare allowance scheme on behalf of the Department of Social Protection. I am informed by the HSE that members of the public already have access to community welfare services at both the Stillorgan health centre and the newly opened Balally primary care centre. As both of these centres are quite near, the HSE has no plans at present to assign a community welfare officer to the Leopardstown-Ballyogan health centre.

In February 2006 the Government decided that the community welfare service would transfer to the then Department of Social and Family Affairs. There are significant benefits to be achieved by this transfer. The integration of the community welfare service into that Department will mean that all income-maintenance schemes will be managed and delivered within one entity. This will provide opportunities in the medium to longer term for enhanced customer service, achievement of efficiencies, co-ordinated control mechanisms and elimination of duplication of effort, with consequential savings to the Exchequer and better outcomes for users of social welfare services.

The transfer is a good example of the reform and transformation of public services, which are a priority for Government and which are at the heart of the public service agreement brokered by the LRC between Government and public service trade unions in Croke Park earlier this year. Management has set 1 January 2011 as the date for the transfer to take effect. It is intended that the staff of the community welfare service will be seconded to the Department of Social Protection, in the first instance, from 1 January 2011. This period of secondment will be used by management and unions to work through any issues which arise. It is intended that at the end of this secondment period, these staff will become civil servants. The unions are now meeting their members around the country to present this protocol.