James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the personnel from the Department of Social Protection. As I have said time and again, statistical information is fine but it is not the reality on the ground. Can we get a breakdown of the overall processing times county by county? The times might be different from county to county. It was interesting to note in the Ombudsman's report last year that approximately one third of the complaints to the Ombudsman related to the Department of Social Protection, and many of those cases were successful following appeal to the Ombudsman. Is that an indication that a more transparent interviewing process is required at the local office? Would this not reduce much of the bureaucracy and the number of cases going to appeal?

Appellants are very vulnerable and have very little income. I see little joined-up communication between community welfare officers and the Department of Social Protection. People are often told to go to the community welfare officer to receive an interim payment, but they do not always receive it. They are left very vulnerable and depend on the goodwill of relatives and friends to support them and give them food. Like other members, I have dealt with cases in which people have had to wait nearly 12 months for an appeal to be heard. This is not good enough. Self-employed persons are particularly vulnerable through no fault of their own. They might have invested heavily in a business that went belly-up when the economy went into recession. Their cases seem to take longer than others to be processed.

Let us consider the circumstances of those who require the farm assist payment. If there is an old house in the farmyard, as was traditionally the case, it causes untold problems as it is regarded as a second home. The question is asked why it is not rented or income is not generated from it. Such houses should be condemned by the HSE as not fit for human habitation. They might have been the houses of farmers' parents who might have lived into their 80s and 90s and they might not have great sanitary facilities, yet the Department of Social Protection cannot understand why they are not habitable. It classes such houses as habitable and states they should be generating income. This causes untold problems for farmers who are trying to obtain the farm assist payment. Perhaps this issue might be examined in a humane fashion. There is a great lack of assistance to help people with their appeals and I would really appreciate it if something could be done in this regard.

Let us consider the oral hearing system. When an officer comes from Dublin or elsewhere to a region, how many cases does he or she deal with each day? People are left waiting for several months for an oral hearing. This is not good enough and it is not a question of a shortage of staff as very few cases are dealt with on a given day. Perhaps the process might be speeded up. In some instances, it is 11.30 a.m. before an appeals officer arrives. He or she may take one case before lunch and perhaps two afterwards and that is it for the day. This is not good enough because people are suffering as a result of the delays.

There is a problem with forwarding files with additional information to various Departments. Additional information may not be forwarded to the Department from the local office and the applicant only discovers this when someone makes a telephone call on his or her behalf. Alternatively, he or she discovers the information has been lost in transit. These matters niggle people and I would welcome Ms Gleeson's comments. It all contributes to bureaucracy and a system that leaves vulnerable people in dire poverty.

If I have another question, I will revert to the delegates. There are strange happenings in the farm assist scheme.