This article is from page 20 of the 2013-04-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
DELAYS in processing social welfare payments are causing major hardship for Clare families, a meeting has heard.
The Clare Citizen’s Advice Centre has said that many people seeking making social welfare claims have to wait up to nine months before receiving payments.
Ann Marie O’Reilly, Advisor for the Citizens Information Centre, was speaking last month at a seminar hosted by Citizen Information Centre and Alliance of Social Protection of Recipients.
The event at the Temple Gate hotel highlighted the impact debt is having on Clare households.
The meeting heard that the centre raised the issue with the Government in a pre-budget submission last year.
Ms O’Reilly said, “Everyone knows the waiting list for all benefits are extensive. There is no quick fix for a benefit. No matter what benefit you go for, you’re going to be waiting. Carers allowance, disability allowance, invalidity pension, you’re talking possibly nine months plus. It’s going to be at least six to eight weeks before you even get a text or a letter stating that. We’ve people coming in after six or eight weeks asking, ‘Will you ring them?’, ‘How long more will it take?’. You just have to wait. The delays in processing benefits are causing major hardship.”
Ms O’Reilly said the majority of queries to the centre in Clare relate to social welfare payments.
She continued, “In 2007 the majority of our queries were social welfare. That was it. In 2010 we had a significant increase in queries about redundancies, constructive dismissal, minimum wage, everything. It was a complete change for us. It’s been changing over the years. The main thing I find in particular in Clare is that it is all social welfare queries at the moment. You might get one or two queries about something else but at the moment it’s social welfare, employment and debt. That seems to be a major factor. We seem to be referring a lot more people to MABS.”
The meeting, chaired by Ennis man Dermot Hayes, also heard from Professor Kathleen Lynch, University College Dublin, and Siobhan O’Donghue, Director of Migrant Rights Centre.