7,000 waiting three months for dole

DOLE backlogs are causing hardship for thousands of households, with the latest figures showing at least 7,000 newly unemployed people have been waiting more than three months for their welfare claims to be processed.

One area in the Taoiseach’s own constituency has a backlog of almost 400 claims but no office to deal with them. Instead, social welfare staff in the town of Edenderry, Co Offaly, have to carry out home visits, which has led to a 14-week waiting list for claims to be processed.

At least 10 dole offices around the country have waiting lists of more than three months – four of these are in Mayo and two in Galway.

Ballina has the longest waiting list with a backlog of 311 people and a waiting list of 15 weeks. The offices in Castlebar and Swinford have more than 500 people waiting longer than three months for jobseekers’ claims.

There are more than 2,000 people waiting since the start of March for claims to be processed in the main Galway city office, while about 500 people are waiting the same length of time in the town of Loughrea.

Figures from the Department of Social Protection show Dublin’s Blanchardstown has 1,190 people waiting for almost 13 weeks to sign on while the nearby Navan Road areas has 1,081 people on a waiting list for the same period.

The Department of Social Protection admitted it had concerns that long delays in processing claims meant unemployed people are reluctant to sign off the dole if work comes their way.

However, it is introducing measures to fast-track people back onto the dole if they have left for a temporary period to take up work or training.

Assistant secretary at the Department of Social Protection, Ann Vaughan, said there has been an “unprecedented increase in jobseeker claims received in the last two years”.

She said almost 222,000 new claims have been made so far this year and “this has led to delays in deciding entitlements in some areas”.

She said at least 4,000 claims of the total 430,000 people on the live register are suspended because people have found short-term work or training courses.

“There was anecdotal evidence to suggest that once a claim went into payment, some customers were reluctant to sign off to take up short periods of work or short training courses, as they believed that they would be left waiting for a considerable time if they needed to sign on again when the work finished,” she told an Oireachtas Committee.

Speaking in the Dáil this week, Minister for Social Protection, Eamon O Cúiv, said waiting times in some areas were “unacceptable” but that every effort was being made to deal with them.

He said the Office of Public Works (OPW) is attempting to secure a premises for a social welfare office in Edenderry.