Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising the issue and giving me this opportunity to update the House on the Department of Social Protection's plans to integrate its services in Bantry.

Since the transfer of responsibility for community welfare services and employment services from the Health Service Executive and FÁS, respectively, to the Minister for Social Protection, the Tánaiste and her officials have been looking at ways to better integrate services to provide a more streamlined and consistent service for their customers. The Office of Public Works has been working with the Department of Social Protection to support this process.

This vision has been given expression under the Intreo programme. Intreo is a very important step in transforming the way income and employment supports are provided. The role of the Office of Public Works in assisting the Department of Social Protection to deliver the Intreo programme is to provide appropriate, modern and efficient accommodation that meets the Department's business requirements and allows it to deliver its services to customers efficiently and effectively. This programme of works represents a very significant investment in terms of both funding by the Government and the allocation of administrative, architectural and technical resources by the OPW.

I am pleased to inform the House that by the end of 2015, the OPW will have modified or fitted out 73 buildings for Intreo in 61 cities and towns throughout Ireland. While priority has been given to delivering the Intreo programme, the Department of Social Protection has also commenced a programme of consolidating services in a number of towns, such as Bantry, where traditional signing services are provided under contract by a branch office, rather than a local office, and where other services such as community welfare and employment services operate from separate locations. This will likely result in a further programme of works for the OPW that will be delivered over the next two years.

It is a feature of the model of integrated services developed by the Department that the public facing side of operations such as waiting areas, serving hatches, interview rooms and group engagement rooms is significantly larger when compared with traditional local social welfare offices.While this is a welcome development, it also creates its own challenges for the Office of Public Works. In some locations, particularly smaller regional towns, the size of existing office accommodation required to deliver the range of consolidated services may simply not be available, or may be in a less central and readily accessible location in retail parks on the edge of town. This can make access for those dependent on public transport more challenging. It may also be the case that there may be several years left to run on existing leased accommodation.

In such cases, the OPW and the Department are trying to balance the aim of consolidating services with the desire to avoid paying rent on premises that would be vacated prematurely if all services were consolidated in one location. This is particularly relevant where there is no alternative requirement for the accommodation that would be vacated. These types of considerations, together with the underlying demand for services in the various towns and the availability or lack of suitably-sized and located buildings, is feeding into the prioritisation of individual projects.

The Senator has outlined the particular circumstances that exist in Bantry where, in addition to the branch office on Bridge Street which is operated under contract by a third party, the Department's own staff deliver services from four other locations around the town. It is unfortunate, however, that none of the existing OPW-leased properties in Bantry is big enough to support an integrated operation.

A search for viable accommodation has been under way in Bantry for some time, but a lack of suitable buildings has hampered progress. Recently, however, the situation improved and my officials are now in preliminary negotiations with four potential landlords. Officials were in Bantry on 8 October to inspect these properties and meet their respective owners. This search process is ongoing, so if the Senator is aware of potentially suitable premises he should please feel free to forward the details to the Minister of State, Deputy Harris.

As the House will no doubt appreciate, I would prefer not to say anything more specific about the options identified to date, as doing so could inadvertently undermine discussions with potential landlords. Having said that, I am hopeful the OPW is moving to a position where it will be able to secure a suitable building in Bantry that will support the delivery of integrated social welfare services in the town and surrounding region. I trust this clarifies the situation for the Senator.