Staff at Intreo offices in Limerick subject to high levels of verbal and physical abuse, Dáil hears

Employees experience a 'challenging work environment in terms of verbal abuse, physical abuse, vacancies, and understaffing'

Intreo is Ireland’s public employment service, which works as a 'single point of contact' for employment supports, income assistance, as well as public service cards. File picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Employees at Intreo offices in Limerick have been experiencing high levels of verbal and physical abuse, the Dáil has heard.

Operated by the Department of Social Protection, Intreo is Ireland’s public employment service, which works as a “single point of contact” for employment supports, income assistance, as well as public service cards.

Amid understaffing and high turnover, reports of challenging work conditions have also emerged in offices in Portlaoise and Newbridge in Kildare.

Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes said employees in various branches reported high levels of verbal and physical abuse.

Over the past decade, Mr Hayes said there had been an 80% reduction in community welfare officer numbers across the country. Numbers went from 800 to 160 over that time.

“I think in localised situations and certainly in Intreo centres, there are actually genuine issues,” Mr Hayes said.

"In particular, one of the things that was raised a lot was a challenging work environment in terms of verbal abuse, physical abuse, vacancies, and understaffing, not just for the staff members, but also for the customers who were attending Intreo centres."

In comparison to other civil service departments, he said new hires at the Department of Social Protection did not receive formal trauma-informed training.

"There was no trauma-informed formal training programme for staff when they went into the Department of Social Protection or Intreo offices. One of the things I'd ask you to look at is conducting an independent review of the staffing conditions and the working conditions for staff within the Intreo offices,” Mr Hayes added.

Social protection minister Dara Calleary praised the commitment of the more than 7,000 staff across his department's 65 Intreo centres and stated unequivocally workplace hostility would not be accepted.

"I will make very clear that I will not tolerate, as minister, any abuse of staff in my department, in any part of the department. These are people providing a really important service, providing a service to people at a very difficult time in people's lives. They should be given the maximum respect and the maximum back-up,” he said.

Mr Calleary asked Mr Hayes to forward specific reports of incidents at the three branches named.