Welfare Rights
Exchange House offers a specialised Welfare Rights Information Service, which operates each morning on the premises. Mary Fanning, who joined Exchange House in 2001, provides comprehensive information on their welfare rights and entitlements to Travellers who drop in or contact her by phone.

The queries usually involve Social Welfare, Health Board and Accommodation issues. Mary will work with people to address issues of immediate concern and where appropriate, will refer people to other staff in Exchange House or relevant agencies.

In a six-month period the Welfare Rights Information Service received 371 queries.

The service works closely with the South Inner City Community Development Association (SICCDA) and Traveller organisations. This enables the service to keep up to date with changes to Social Welfare entitlements and to feed back on policy related issues.

Statistics compiled by the Welfare Rights Service highlight the immediate needs of service users, which require a response at policy level. Out of the issues specifically identified in 2001, the majority related to the lack of basic facilities for many Travellers.

Of these 123 related to social welfare, 82 related to Health Boards, 46 to general health issues, 56 to housing, 24 were legal queries, 2 related to tax and 38 were referred to other agencies.