HSE staff move opposed

Plans to transfer over 600 community welfare officers (CWOs) from the Health Service Executive (HSE) to the Department of Social and Family Affairs was "a recipe for disaster" that would "hurt the most vulnerable people in society" an Oireachtas Committee was told yesterday.

The unions representing CWOs, Impact and Siptu, were addressing the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs on their opposition to the transfer which is due to proceed in September.

The officers, who are employed by the HSE, are based in health centres and are responsible for administering supplementary welfare payments such as rent allowance, diet allowance, back to school clothing, footwear payments and heating allowance.

Plans to transfer their functions to the Department of Social and Family Affairs were first mooted in December 2003 and confirmed in February this year.

Stephen O'Neill, assistant general secretary of Impact, told the committee that CWOs were dealing on a day-to-day basis with some of the most vulnerable people in society.

He said the fact that officers functioned under the auspices of the health executive enabled them to link their clients quickly into such services as addiction services, mental health services and home helps.

Mr O'Neill also argued a core function of officers is to be able to make emergency payments at their discretion, often for health-related needs. "That vital flexibility would be lost. The most needy people would have nowhere else to turn if CWOs lost their discretionary, emergency powers.

"The Department of Social and Family Affairs cannot realistically be expected to develop an interest in identifying or meeting health or personal social service needs in the way CWOs now do. These are not the department's responsibility and it would be highly unlikely to continue devoting resources to functions for which it is not responsible."

In many instances where emergency payments are needed, the unions said no other service was available to fulfil this role.