Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the shortage of staff in her Department dealing with jobseeker's allowance and benefit claims leading to a backlog in the processing of these claims; and if she plans to address the matter. [24614/08]

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her strategy for dealing with the significant extra demand on social welfare offices as highlighted by the rising numbers on the live register; the way staff are being deployed to areas that have experienced high rises in the number of people signing on; if other services or planned services have been curtailed because of this. [24789/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 109 and 121 together.

The Department delivers a front-line service through a network of 60 Local Offices and 65 Branch Offices countrywide. The main services provided from these offices include Jobseekers Payment, One-Parent Family Payment and an Information service. The staffing levels in Local Offices are reviewed from time to time. Following on the most recent reviews undertaken by the Management Services Unit of the Department as a consequence of the increasing Live Register, an additional 31 posts have been allocated to some 15 offices and the necessary assignments are currently being made. This will not give rise to any curtailment of services in other areas of the Department.

In the past few years the Department has coped with increasing demands arising from significant changes to the social welfare code and in the numbers of persons accessing the system. Operational procedures and the organisation of work continue to be reviewed and restructured to maximise the benefits of technology and new developments in processing techniques and business information. The department monitors the fluctuations in the live register on an ongoing basis in order to address any customer service issues.