Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Nach maith é go bhfuil a fhios agat. I suppose using the frame of a business model in respect of people engaged in employment services indicates the type of language that a client of a State agency now becomes a customer of the State agency. My concern is the use of that type of language. I am unhappy with the cutbacks that have happened in the ENP because even with the figures available from 2012 to 2013 it is quite clear they were cut back to a third of what they had been the previous year. I would guess that if the figures were available, we would see an even bigger cutback.

One of the issues was the closure of the offices in rural areas. People looking for an ENP cannot afford to go to an office in the city. These people feel compelled to travel into the city to go to the Intreo offices and in many cases feel intimidated in there. I know the Minister is a great proponent of the Irish language but many of these feel that the service is not being made available through Irish and they have to make a special effort to ask for that. It is very unfortunate that, according to the figures available, there has been such a huge reduction in the number of ENPs paid. Now that we are told the economy is improving, would the Minister reconsider reopening an office in the Connemara area to make it easier for those clients to access the Department's services for ENPs and other matters?