Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not making an issue of that at all. The social welfare system is a shambles. Perhaps some official would note my query on what seems to be a policy emanating from the Department or the Minister to rural social welfare office that they delay, defer and if possible delete claimants? I am in public life for almost 30 years and I am appalled at the delays in the system, the application and appeals systems. There is a lack of communication with clients.

Let me give one example of a young man who approached me. I raised the issue with the Minister and she responded by letter stating that the jobseeker's allowance applies when the person is unemployed, capable, available and genuinely seeking employment and satisfies a means test. This young man went to an office in west Cork, which I shall not name. His father, who was seeking farm assist was sent to a different office. Additional information was sought from his father which was eventually supplied, but after some delay, and this had an impact on his son's application. The application of the young man was closed as he failed to produce documentation to support his claim. His father was to supply that information but he was dealing with a different office. This is not an unusual example. I think it is a deliberate attempt to ensure that both the father and son are crucified, as they live in remote and difficult circumstances. I make no bones about it, whether the Minister is present or not.

My second point relates to a person living in the Beara Peninsula who has applied for farm assist. The Department is insisting on him going to a bank. He has no bank account and the nearest bank to him is in Bantry town, 56 miles away. The man is living on the breadline. The Department needs to apply common sense and allow people to use the local post office. Post offices are closing left right and centre from a lack of business. The post office in Alllihies is barely surviving and the young people in that peninsula must travel to a bank because of departmental policy. Is that fair or reasonable? The point is that people in rural areas are crucified by this policy, which is very unfair. It is a scandal.

My next point relates to the carer's allowance. A separated lady whose elderly parents both in the nineties needed her full time care and attention for many years applied for the carers allowance in April 2012. To date, 19 months later, she has not received one penny. Her father has died in the meantime and her mother has now gone into a home. I reported on this case without mentioning names in my local newspaper The Southern Star and the Department suggested I was exaggerating and talking rubbish. As of ten minutes ago, that lady has not received a single penny for looking after her parents.

Let me give an example of delays in the system. After a delay of 12 months a person whose farm assist payment was reduced was offered a payment of €112 per week with a mandamus, that if he did not accept the compromise payment he would remain on the reduced rate of €25 until the appeal would be determined, which would be nine or 12 months down the road. Members may not realise that the average time it takes for an appeal to be processed is from nine to 12 months. Never before in all my days in public life, did I know that the Department can offer a sop, but if one decides to go through the appeal process, one will be on the reduced amount during the nine to 12 months wait for the appeal hearing. That is unfair. It is a type of blackmail.

The abolition of the death grant was the wrong thing to do at this time, but the abolition of the telephone allowance was mealy-mouthed. People in certain rural areas cannot get reception for their mobile phones and depend on the land line. It was suggested that they use broadband. In parts of the Mizen Peninsula we cannot get narrow band not to say broadband. The officials need to travel down to Alllihies or go to remote areas in counties Donegal or Kerry and see what is really happening in rural areas.