Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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350. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on whether it is appropriate that citizens requiring social welfare assistance from the community welfare service in large parts of County Galway must now travel distances of over 60 kilometres; and her views on whether such an eventuality would be tolerated in Dublin constituencies. [39793/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 350 and 352 together.

Under the Government's Pathways to Work Programme, my Department is committed to providing opportunities, support and assistance to the approximately 420,000 people on the Live Register. It is planned to do this through intensifying the Department’s level of engagement with people who are unemployed and, in particular, those who are, or become, long term unemployed. In order to deliver on this commitment, it is necessary to redeploy 300 staff throughout the country from other services to activation case officer roles before the end of this year.

Accordingly, in the coming months, up to 20 staff, drawn primarily from the Department’s community welfare service, social welfare inspectors, and community services, will take up new roles as activation case officers in County Galway. These changes, which are largely predicated on the rationalisation of the community welfare service clinics, will increase activation case officer numbers across the county from 13 to 33 staff.

It is in this context that a decision was made to relocate community welfare services from Connemara to Galway City and Clifden. Staff based in An Spideál and An Ceathrú Rua will relocate to Galway City while services based in Cill Chiaran will relocate to Clifden with effect from 30th September 2013.

I am very conscious of the need to provide effective and efficient customer facing services at a local level for customers of the Department. Customers in these areas will be encouraged to contact the service by phone, email or post in the first instance and, in most cases, their queries will be answered without them having to attend a public clinic in Galway City or Clifden. If a customer is unable to travel to Galway City or Clifden, for example due to illness, an officer can arrange a visit to the customer’s home, if necessary.

As part of the relocation of community welfare services to Galway City and Clifden, the frequency of available public clinics is being increased to five days per week in Galway and to three days per week in Clifden. In addition, the number of staff available to these clinics will be increased giving customers improved access to services there.