Sargent told of new Social Welfare office for Balbriggan
29 April 2010
Trevor Sargent has been told that a new Social Welfare office with 18 staff, providing a full service for the area, will open in July 2010, during a debate in the Dáil with Minister Ó Cuív. The Minister added that he looks forward to officially opening the new premises in Balbriggan himself.
Local TD Trevor Sargent was granted leave to raise an urgent matter in the Dáil this week to press his government colleague Minister for Social Protection, Éamon Ó Cuív T.D., on the urgent need to open a full service Social Welfare office in Balbriggan which has approximately 5,700 claimants at present.
Responding to the strong case put forward by the Balbriggan-based Deputy Sargent, Minister Ó Cuív said:
“The Office of Public Works has recently acquired temporary premises in Balbriggan. The new permanent office will be a Social Welfare Local Office, operated by the Department and staffed by civil servants. The address of the new office is 18 Mill Street, Balbriggan. Staff and a Local Office Manager are in the process of being assigned to the new office.
“Work started on alterations to the premises on 6 April 2010, and a 10 week period has been allowed for structural work and fitting out. It is expected that the new premises will open at the beginning of July 2010. 18 staff are in the process of being assigned for the new office and the staffing will be kept under review.
“The new office in Balbriggan will provide a full service. New claims for Jobseeker’s Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or One-parent Family Payment will be taken and decided. However the temporary premises is not adequate to also provide for the signing function and there are a number of options for this work being investigated by the Department at present.
“Pending the opening of the office in Balbriggan and in preparation for the move to Balbriggan, staff assigned to the new office have moved to North Cumberland Street Local Office, because there is more room there for both the staff and claimants and there are also better facilities for the training of the new staff. New claims for jobseeker payments will continue to be dealt with in Coolock for the moment and the review of claims and maintenance of claims for Balbriggan will also be dealt with there for the present.
“Once the new premises is available for occupation it will start service to Balbriggan customers.”
On hearing of the new Minister’s interest and commitment to Balbriggan, Deputy Sargent said, “I thank the Minister for stating that the new office in Balbriggan, which is to serve the north Fingal area, will be providing a full service. Given that the Minister’s grandmother, Sinead De Valera (née Flanagan) came from Balbriggan, I hope he will be visiting the town for the official opening of the new facilities.” On hearing Deputy Sargent’s comment, Minister Ó Cuív said he looked forward to the opening.
Update 14 July 2010: The new office is to open on Monday, 19 July.
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