Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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336. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will instruct his officials to clearly include the post office network as an option for payments from his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14811/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In the vast majority of my department’s schemes there is clear customer choice on payment method. My department will make payment directly to a bank account or make available a cash payment at a Post Office in line with customer choice. Payment options are set out on scheme application forms with no emphasis or preference on either payment method.

For some schemes, mainly those which are means tested, my department, as a control measure, requires payment to be made in cash at Post Offices. Customers must present with appropriate identification to receive their payment.

For other schemes, mainly where customers are in work such as Jobseeker Casual customers who work on a part time basis or Back to Work family dividend, my department recognises that these customers already have a payment method through their employer and it would be unfair and an inconvenience to these customers to provide a different method of payment from the one they already have by requiring them to attend at a Post Office on a weekly basis.

I can assure the Deputy that my department is not undertaking any measures which seek to actively influence customer choice in the manner of payment away from cash payments at the Post Office. However I must reiterate that where customer choice is available the vast majority of customers are choosing to have their payments made direct to bank accounts and my department will respect this choice.