Nicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason the Revenue Commissioners has decided to remove the service of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland telephonists from its Westmeath-Offaly office based in Athlone; and if the decision will be reconsidered. [4193/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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This is a matter primarily for my colleague the Minister for Finance. However, I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the telephonist service in Revenue's Athlone office was provided on a temporary agency basis by the National Council for the Blind following the retirement of a Revenue employee in 2005. However, the telephone system for the Westmeath-Offaly district needed to be replaced as the older system could no longer provide the required business functionality and replacement parts were no longer available. The replacement system, which operates effectively in many Revenue office, enables the service to be provided without the need for an operator thereby resulting in significant cost savings.