Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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22. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the guidelines that Intreo offices have been issued in relation to the sanitisation of electronic signing equipment used by the public; and the number of persons currently required to sign on for any social protection service or payment. [39924/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has continued to provide services to our customers, including the new pandemic unemployment payment, throughout the pandemic. We have, at all times, followed public health advice and the Return to Work Safely Protocol.

While we have kept our Intreo centres open we have implemented restricted opening hours strict sanitation protocols and encouraged our clients, as far as possible to use our online services.

Electronic signing equipment is currently only in use during the process of allocating a PPSN to a customer or when a customer is applying for a PSC card. In both of these situations the guidance which has been issued is to ensure that customers sanitise their hands on entering the public office and to sanitise their hands again at the counter immediately before signing the electronic pad.

Sanitiser dispensing units are available at the entrance and at the counter. Customers are encouraged to wear face coverings and these are provided to customers who do not have them.

We have also contracted for additional cleaning services and cleaners in all our public offices have been instructed to clean the public areas regularly during opening hours and this includes attending to the electronic signing equipment.

Signing for Social Protection payments was suspended on March 12th until further notice and this is still the case.

Weekly casual dockets are still required although customers now have the option to register to certify their unemployment via MyWelfare.ie or use a drop box.