Craig Gardner report contents and timing
Higgins asked whether the report covered delays affecting legitimate recipients; Woods said it examined Department operations, including service localisation. Woods added that the final report arrived in December and a summary would be available before the Estimates debate.
When the Minister releases the report to Dáil Éireann, will it address itself to the question of the consequences of the delays in payment to legitimate social welfare recipients?
Comment on this
They are very extensive reports and they cover the operations of the Department in general. They cover such matters as the localisation of the service, which is along the lines the Deputy is querying, to ensure a more secure and a more efficient service to the clients.
Comment on this
Since December. The Deputy is probably slightly confused by the fact that there was a report just before we came into office. The then Minister gave no commitment to publish the report but said that when the final reports had been received and evaluated she would make a detailed statement on the findings and the follow up action which was proposed. I am going further in that I am making a summary of the report available to Deputies. The final part of the report was received in December.