Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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38. To ask the Minister for Social Protection why he is continuing to issue correspondence urging recipients under the jobseeker's benefit scheme to use financial institutions instead of using the post office to collect payments. [18700/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government clearly states the Government’s commitment to actively encouraging payments at Post Offices. While responsibility for An Post and the Post Office Network rests with my colleagues the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources and the Minister for Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and Gaeltacht, I wish to highlight the size of my department’s business with An Post which was over 38 million transactions across the network in 2015 at a cost of €54m to my department. I recently had a constructive meeting with the Irish Postmasters Union and will be meeting with Bobby Kerr next week.

My Department recently wrote to a cohort of jobseeker customers, who are classified as casual jobseekers, offering the option of payment to an account. These customers are in-work and claim a jobseekers payment for 2 to 3 days per week or work week on/week-off. They were paid by cheque each week due to the changing nature of their work/claiming patterns and the short turn-around time to issue and collect payments. This group of customers were not paid via post offices under the department’s existing cash payments contract with An Post. The vast majority have responded and opted for payment to a bank account. No further letters are being issued to this group.

My Department has developed its payment capacity in respect of changing work and claiming patterns and is offering payments direct to accounts in financial institutions for casual Jobseeker customers. This is in line with departmental policy where the focus is on ensuring that in-work customers are paid by the most convenient method possible.

I wish to 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. In light of the Programme for Government commitment, staff in my Department will be formally advised that, when dealing with payment options, customers can choose between payment at the Post Office or by EFT, where possible.