Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 125: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to extend the opening times of his Department's front-line services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12202/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Under the current arrangements the majority of Social Welfare Local Offices are open to the public from 9.30am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, including lunch hours. In 2004 opening hours were extended to include lunch times as provided for in the Department's Modernisation Action Plan under Sustaining Progress.

Social Welfare Branch Offices and some smaller Local Offices do not open during lunch hour as the number of staff in these offices is insufficient to provide a service during lunch time.

The most recent national independent customer survey, Consulting With Our Customers, carried out in 2005, indicated that 81% of customers who visited Local Offices were happy with the opening hours. Only 1% of the customers surveyed identified opening hours as an area that required improvement.

The Department has no immediate plans to further extend its front-line services opening times, although, the matter will be reviewed in the context of the Department's next Modernisation Action Programme.