Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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114. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will reverse the decision to close the social welfare branch office in Clones, County Monaghan; if her attention has been drawn to the serious concerns of the local community regarding the difficulties that such a closure would cause to persons in Clones and its catchment area; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the closure of the Clones office would necessitate persons having to travel long distances to the nearest social welfare offices in Monaghan, Castleblayney or Cavan and would cause additional financial pressures for many persons transacting business with her Department; if she will provide an assurance that this decision will be reviewed with a view to retaining the branch office in Clones; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1761/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Following the notification of the decision of the Clones Branch Office Manager to retire on 6February 2015 a review of the delivery of the Department’s services in North County Monaghan was carried out.Over the last number of years the Department has developed a new integrated income support, employment and support service called ‘Intreo’, and has been transforming its nationwide network of Local Offices into ‘Intreo Centres’. The Intreo Centre is a one-stop shop for all income and employment support services where customers can access job-seeking advice, information on vacancies and income support services all in the one place. The local Intreo Centre provides expert help and advice on employment, training and personal development opportunities with a focus on customer needs to help them enter the workforce. Self-service kiosks are available to provide information and case officers offer advice and guidance on employment and training opportunities. The individualised supports which are available to jobseekers assist them in getting back to work and increasing their employability. There are a number of key elements which make up the Intreo service including:

- Integrated reception providing a one-stop shop incorporating all strands of the Department’s income support and employment services.

- Provision of information and access to income supports, including jobseekers' payments, back to work and back to education payments, one-parent family payments and community welfare services. Integrated decision-making process leading to quicker payment decisions.

- Intreo has introduced a new approach to engagement with people who are unemployed. It transforms the nature and level of engagement between employment services and people on the Live Register with the objective of helping people on the pathway back to employment. The aim is that the first day a client enters an Intreo Centre and engages with the service, that day is the start of the journey back to work.

Currently these new Intreo services are not provided to our customers in County Monaghan and following the review mentioned above the Department has decided that these enhanced services can best be provided by utilising the capacity of Branch Offices in Monaghan Town, Castleblayney, and the Intreo Centre in Cavan Town. The Department is confident that by adopting this approach we can better serve the needs of our customers by providing the broad range of Intreo services much sooner than would otherwise be the case.

To ensure a smooth transition, and to minimise disruption to our customers, each customer has been assigned to the next closest DSP service in accordance with their geographic location. They have therefore been aligned with Branch Offices in Monaghan Town, Castleblayney, or the DSP Intreo Centre in Cavan. This re-configuration will provide customers with access to enhanced activation services and those attending Cavan Town will benefit immediately. Customers attending the Monaghan Town Branch Office will also benefit from the proposed participation of that office in Intreo trials during 2015.

Customers who reside more than 16 kilometres from their assigned Branch Office/Intreo Centre may avail of postal signing arrangement whereby they sign a postal declaration two months out of three and sign in the Branch/Intreo Office on the third month. The Department is communicating in writing to each customer regarding the operational changes detailing their new DSP access point and signing arrangements. Customers will be informed that there will be no changes to current payment arrangements.

Department services such as Social Welfare Inspector, Designated Officer (former Community Welfare Officer) and Local Employment Services will not be affected by this change and will continue to be provided in Clones for customers and the general public as normal.

The Department’s operations are reviewed on an ongoing basis with a view to ensuring our services meet customer needs in as efficient a manner as possible.