Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the point about the use of the term, "customer", I think "client" might be a better term. We can have a discussion on that. The Minister of State referred to the time when he was a young fellow but there are many of us in this House who would still categorise him as a young fellow because he is looking a lot fresher than some of us, and fair play to him.

I am quite surprised that the Department of Social Protection has no statistics on the number of house calls. I find it strange that this information is not available. Even from an employment perspective there must be some record if an officer is being asked to make house calls. For example, travel expenses need to be reimbursed. This statistical information needs to be collected because if there is a high number of house calls, it might raise the need for a satellite office or a reconsideration of the closure of the office in Carraroe. If the number of house calls is small, the opposite would apply and it would have been the right decision. I find it very strange that the Department of Social Protection, which is very good at collecting statistics, does not have any statistics whatsoever on the number of house calls being made by its officers in a place as big and as rural as Connemara. A high number of house calls will mean a high level of expense. One imagines that travel expenses are payable to the officers. The reply is not satisfactory and I would appreciate more information. I ask the Department to revert to me with those statistics when they are to hand.