THE GOVERNMENT has been forced to appoint 115 extra staff to deal with the increasing number of workers joining dole queues around the country.
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said yesterday the extra staff will be posted to 48 social welfare offices joining an existing workforce of approximately 2,000.
Her department recently undertook a review of staff levels in dole offices amid surging Live Register figures. Davy stockbrokers said on Thursday unemployment is set to reach 10 per cent in 2008 and may peak at 12 per cent in 2010.
CSO data published this week estimates the unemployment rate hit 7.8 per cent in November with 277,200 people signing on.
Ms Hanafin said a new department, with 18 deciding officers, had been established in the Townsend Street office in Dublin to tackle the backlog of claims from offices around the State.
"The extra 115 staff will be at clerical officer and staff officer levels and are being sourced from the existing Civil Service numbers . . . within the Department of Social and Family Affairs and from other . . . departments." she said.
