748. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount of funding that has been provided to local Intreo offices, broken down by county for each of the years 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29693/26]

749. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of Intreo staff that are employed to assist the public in County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29695/26]

750. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will consider providing an agreed funding allocation to Intreo offices in County Meath for a five-year period instead of the current three year period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29697/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 748, 749 and 750 together.

I propose to take PQs 748 , 749 , and 750 750 together. The provision of high quality local customer service is a priority for my Department. My Department provides services to the people of County Meath through the Intreo Centre in Navan and two Social Welfare Branch Offices, in Trim and Kells.  Intreo Centre services are demand led, and are not subject to annual funding allocations. The number of staff employed in these offices is provided below as requested:

*There are four Community Welfare Officers in Meath.  A walk- in service is available in the Intreo Office in Navan every day during office hours; there is an outreach walk-in service in the Branch Offices in Kells and Trim each Thursday and Friday.

While local face-to-face engagement with people continues to be a cornerstone of social welfare services, it is important to mention that a person does not need to attend in person to make an application for a scheme or payment, or avail of the Community Welfare Services.  The MyWelfare online service facilitates customers in applying for a number of schemes, managing their claims and submitting information and documentation directly to their local office for review.  The majority of applications for Jobseeker's payments are made online. People may also submit a paper application for a scheme.

Any person who needs to access the Community Welfare Service can also call the National Community Welfare Service freephone number.  A person from any location can speak with a Community Welfare Officer over the phone if they do not wish to travel to an office to meet with an officer in person.

My Department also operates a dedicated contact centre which handles all Intreo phone queries. The National Intreo Contact Centre (NICC) is the centralised point of phone contact for Intreo customers. The NICC services three phone lines: the Intreo helpline on 0818 405060, the Community Welfare Service customer helpline on 0818 607080 and the MyWelfare technical support line on 0818625625. It also responds to email queries through the Customer Information Mailbox – info@welfare.ie, and the MyWelfare technical Support Mailbox - support@mywelfare.ie.  The NICC is currently staffed by 91.6 staff (whole time equivalent) who answer queries from customers in all counties.

Customers will find information and contact details, including phone numbers and emails, for all DSP schemes and services on the department's www.gov.ie site.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.