Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are practical changes that could possibly be helpful, for instance I have dealt with a number of cases where people applied for an invalidity pension, which has a higher threshold which they would not meet instead of applying for a payment with lower thresholds. They would have appealed the case before they contacted our office. If the officer reviewing the case notices that somebody would have a better chance of success if they applied to a different scheme, my point is that the officer could telephone the client, inviting him or her to discuss the application in the office and could then suggest that the individual might qualify for a different payment with a lower threshold. This would save the individual going through the appeal system and after a period of six months to year, finding out that he or she was ineligible for that particular payment but could be eligible for a different allowance. In certain cases a telephone call might suffice and this would negotiate the significant expense involved in appeals.

I know from our previous discussion that our suggestions were taken on board and changes were made. The person from the social welfare appeals office who came before us was brilliant in outlining how they work. Sometimes suggestion take a while to work its way through the system.