West Tyrone Sinn Fein Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Sinn Féin seeking One-Stop-Shop for Border Area Welfare Queries

Published: 12 August, 2010

Strabane Sinn Féin Council Chair Michaela Boyle has called for the creation of a one-stop-shop to deal with welfare rights queries from members of the public who live along the border.


She said,

Local Sinn Fein elected representatives deal with many cases where people's benefits are affected by their proximity to the border. For example, in the case of people who live on one side of the border but work in the other there often exists widespread confusion around not only the types of social welfare applicable but which agencies should be contacted to access benefits."


Sinn Fein has recently met with officials in the North South Ministerial Council to discuss the possibility of setting up an entity with staff specifically trained to deal with the myriad uncertainties which people living in proximity to the border face.

"This is not only an issue on the northern side of the border", Cllr Boyle explained. "Our party representatives in Donegal are also dealing with the same range of issues on a daily basis.
"A One Stop Shop would be advantageous to people living in the border catchment area to have one place to go to access all the information they need. This agency could also deal with taxation issues as there is often disharmony between the administrations north and south on this issue.

"I believe this is a cost effective proposal which would be of major benefit to thousands of families right across the border area."