Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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596. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason unemployed persons in Cashel, County Tipperary are expected to travel up to 20 miles to meet with their Turas Nua personal adviser at times which are not practical with local public transport times; the reason appointments are not available in Cashel and other towns in which there is a number of persons from the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20427/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The JobPath contracts provide that a customer should not have to travel more than 60 minutes in normal circumstances to attend an appointment. Where a customer has transport difficulties the JobPath Provider may assist the customer with travel arrangements including the reimbursement of reasonable travel costs.

Turas Nua currently operates 27 full-time and 14 part-time offices throughout their operating region. At present, 8 offices are accessible within a normal journey time of 60 minutes either by public transport or private motorised transport from Cashel.

Customers from Cashel are initially referred to the Turas Nua office in Clonmel, but they do have the option to engage in the Turas Nua office most convenient for them. Customers with concerns over public transport should first contact their Personal Adviser, who will do their best to schedule appointments around the transport timetables.

The offices are based in:

- Tipperary town – 18.8km from Cashel, 17 mins by car. Additionally there is a local bus service called Ring a Link – – that provides transportation between Cashel and Tipperary five days a week.

- Thurles – 22.3km from Cashel, 19 mins by car and 49 mins by Bernard Kavanagh & Sons bus

- Clonmel – 24.9km from Cashel, 29 mins by car and 45 mins by Bernard Kavanagh & Sons bus

- Nenagh – 53.9km from Cashel, 54 mins by car

- Roscrea – 55.5km from Cashel, 52 mins by car

- Dungarvan – 62.2km from Cashel, 55 mins by car

- Kilkenny – 62.4km from Cashel, 52 mins by car

- Portlaoise – 77.4km from Cashel, 47 mins by car

Customers claiming their jobseekers payment from Cashel Branch Office are currently being referred to JobPath at a rate of 6 per week. In total 245 jobseekers from Cashel and the surrounding areas are engaged with the service. Given the number of options available to customers in the region, there is no current requirement for a separate Turas Nua office in Cashel.

Towards the end of 2016 my Department commissioned an independent survey to assess customer satisfaction with the service provided by both JobPath companies. Turas Nua scored 4.37 out of 5 for ease of travel to their offices. This survey is available on my department’s website at – .

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.