Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. The Minister for Social Protection sends her apologies as she could not be here today.

Significant maintenance and upgrade work to the Intreo centre on the Navan Road, Cabra, Dublin 7, had been scheduled for 2022. Plans were put in place for staff to transfer to other Intreo centres for the duration of the work, with arrangements made for customers to be served by King’s Inns Intreo centre, Parnell Street. The work originally planned was premised on no significant changes being made to the services being provided by the Navan Road Intreo centre, the way those services are delivered and the layout of the building. The Senator, like all of us, will be aware of the significant increase in construction and maintenance costs in recent months, including in building supplies. It was decided, therefore, before finalising the works contract, to review the future use of the building at Navan Road to ensure efficient and effective use of resources.

As has been the case with other organisations and services, many customers of the Department of Social Protection have moved to accessing departmental services online over the past two years. This has largely been in response to the social distancing implications brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the fact Intreo centres remained open to the public throughout the pandemic. This had reduced the footfall into the Navan Road centre, including a significant decrease in the attendance of casual customers.

A comprehensive review was undertaken in 2021 of all services and activities delivered by the Department's network of local offices with the purpose of determining the best future operating models for delivering these services and activities. The review identified that significant portions of work that had previously taken place in Intreo centres had been moved to alternative work streams, with the most significant being the processing of payments by the national processing team and the handling of phone and electronic contacts by the national Intreo contact centre. The review also identified substantial benefits for standardising and streamlining work previously replicated across the different local divisions.

As a result of this review, dedicated work streams have been created for control operations, the community welfare service and the employment operations, which includes activation, community employment, Tús and employer engagement. The impact of these changes and the new redistribution of work has given an opportunity for the division of staff working in Intreo offices to focus on vital customer-facing services, front-office services, information services, client identity services, claims maintenance, front-office control, day-to-day branch office interactions and facilities management. With regard to the layout of the Department’s Intreo centres, this means that instead of large waiting areas with rows of seats and multiple hatches, the Department will be providing self-service zones with interactive touchscreens, child-friendly spaces and autism-supportive sensory rooms. The layout will reflect the fact many customers will be there by appointment and, therefore, will not need to queue. The work in the Navan Road Intreo centre had been planned some time ago and it was considered appropriate to pause the works while further consideration was given to the optimal use of the building.

That is the reply I have been asked to share with the Senator today. I understand her frustration regarding the ten community welfare officers who had been working in the area and to phones not being answered.I assure the Senator I will bring back to the Minister and Minister of State the points she has forcefully raised on behalf of the members of her community who depend on Intreo offices. When anything is paused it creates a level of uncertainty which is not good. We need to get certainty for the community in Dublin 7.