Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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389. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will outline any consultancy costs associated with the establishment of the Intreo services; if she will outline any other costs associated with the establishment of Intreo including office refurbishment, branding costs and website costs; if she is satisfied with the current operation of the service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3856/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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To date Intreo Centres have been established at 44 locations. At some locations it has meant acquiring new premises and at others the refurbishment of one or more than one office in the town. The cost for physically fitting out the offices to provide for an integrated service consists of structural, mechanical, electrical and ancillary costs that include queuing systems, security, furniture and fittings. The total cost associated with the works is approximately €15.3 m and the overall branding cost, including both external and internal signage, is approximately €208,000.

Apart from signage, branding costs arising during the development of the new service identity related to the initial design, the design implementation, some translation costs, the cost of royalty free images and trademark search & registration. These costs totalled €59,516.

Prior to the establishment of the Intreo service the Department commissioned work under a 2009 contract on the design, development and implementation new processes to integrate the three previous services of the Department itself, the Community Welfare Service and the employment services units of FÁS. This work was delivered and completed in 2011 and it developed an integrated operating model for the three services, as required by the National Employment and Entitlements service provided for in the Programme for Government, and was an important input into the development of the Pathways to Work policy. The total cost of this consultancy was €186,563.

A particular effort was made to keep costs down during the development of the new service through procuring services via public tender from various suppliers to ensure cost effectiveness. I am satisfied that the costs incurred compare more than favourably with the costs of implementing similar service developments in other States.