A BUNCRANA councillor
is urging the HSE to urgently deploy more community
welfare officers to tackle the long queues of people
seeking social welfare assistance.
Councillor Daren Lalor said the Sinn Féin office in
the town was hearing reports of increasingly long
queues at many of the community welfare offices
across the peninsula. Some people were having to
wait for up to two hours to be seen, he said.
"We have, at present, over 3,000 people signing on
in Inishowen - the highest number since 1998.
Unfortunately with no sign of any Government plan
this looks to increase even further and, in turn,
place more pressure on this vital service," said
Cllr Lalor.
Cllr Lalor said he would be raising the issue with
the HSE along with his colleague, Senator Pearse
Doherty.
"Additional staff is surely required to address this
issue. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs,
Mary Hanafin was forced to appoint an extra 115
staff across the 48 social welfare local offices
around the county to address the demand, so surely
the HSE will need to address the overburdening on
their offices." Cllr Lalor said community welfare
officers played an important role in administrating
schemes such as Back to School Clothing Allowance;
Medial Cards, Rent Allowance, Nursing Home
Subvention and Mobility Allowance.
"For many, they are the important link between the
public and the social welfare.
"Back in June this year I had a meeting with Liam
Breen, the superintendent of the Community Welfare
Service, asking him to address the unnecessary long
queues at that time.
"I was assured that all forms relating to the local
community welfare office would be made readily
available to the public in the waiting room. This,
we felt, would go some way in tying to reduce the
queues. But unfortunately the situation now is even
more tragic and immediate action by the HSE is vital
for both the public and the staff," added Clllr
Lalor. |
