Fears grow over access to community welfare offices

Fears grow over access to community welfare offices throughout Mayo


Ciara Galvin

CONCERNS over the centralisation of community welfare offices in the county have been raised just days after the official relocation of the services to Castlebar and Ballina. Community welfare officers ran clinics from HSE Health Centres, but in a ‘re-balancing of resources’ offices throughout the county have been relocated.
Mary Jackson project coordinator at TACÚ Family Resource Centre expressed major concerns to The Mayo News about how the centralisation of community welfare services could have serious implications for people in emergency need of assistance.
“My huge concern is where are people going to get the help when they need it,” said Ms Jackson, referring to people’s difficulty in accessing the new centralised centres.
“It’s putting a big onus on us [Family Resource Centre staff] to look after them,” said Jackson, who is also concerned about the money it will cost people to travel from Ballinrobe to Castlebar … Access to the base is my huge difficulty.”
People who do not own or drive a car and seek emergency assistance would have to get a bus to Castlebar and a subsequent taxi to Davitt House.
Ms Jackson spoke about one woman who had to travel from Ballinrobe to Castlebar twice to apply for a straightforward social welfare entitlement. The woman had to leave her three children with the TACÚ Centre staff and travel via bus and taxi to Davitt House, Castlebar.
Ms Jackson said the process made ‘absolutely no sense’ as people seeking assistance from community welfare officers cannot afford to travel to Castlebar from the outset.
Asked for his view in relation to the centralisation of the Ballinrobe office, local Fine Gael councillor Michael Burke said he was not pleased with the centralisation ‘by any means’. However, he said that centralisation was ‘the changing face of the system that we have to accept’, adding that Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton implemented the changes from ‘an efficiency point of view’.
He told The Mayo News that since the office had beeb relocated two weeks ago, he had not yet received a complaint.
Cllr Burke said he was of the understanding that appointments could be made with a community welfare officer who would in turn visit the person seeking assistance.
Speaking in relation the availability of community welfare officers via phone, Ms Jackson argued that people were in a ‘most vulnerable place’ when seeking assistance and that the possibility of being left on hold and telling people about a situation over the phone would be ‘very impersonal’. Ms Jackson added that an outreach service would help.
Cllr Burke said he would seek more information in relation to the centralisation, and that he wanted to ensure that people facing various types of financial crisis would have someone to turn to.