Ms Anne Marie Hoey:

My apologies, I thought the Deputy was talking about the local office. For individuals who want to speak to somebody about the processing of an application, the first point of contact would be through our call number. If a query cannot be resolved at that stage, it will be transferred to our customer relations department which is managed by Mr. Kieran Healy.

Deputy Seamus Healy welcomed the burden of illness initiative. The plan is for the clinical advisory group to bring that recommendation forward in quarter 1 of next year.

On the review form and the medical form going out together, we take that as a very positive recommendation. I would certainly take that away with me.

In the context of self-employment and form 11, we have them working and realise there can be some differences in understanding in respect of the form. We have been working with Revenue to resolve the matter and have a common understanding. We are confident at this stage that we do have a common understanding, which we will certainly impart to any applicant in terms of exactly what is required. We do not want to overburden people unnecessarily on that.

Regarding documentation not received, we have made a number of improvements to address the issue. I mentioned earlier that we have undertaken a lean methodology looking at all of our processes. We are putting in place very robust systems for the management of the volume of documentation which we receive on a daily and weekly basis. Over the summer months, we also introduced scanning whereby all additional information received into the unit is scanned at the point of entry and linked with the person's application, cutting down on unnecessary handling of documentation by any more people than would be necessary.

Senator Colm Burke referred to people who are terminally ill. Obviously, I am not familiar with the individual circumstances of the cases but am happy to discuss same with him offline. On the question of how decisions are arrived at, we take into consideration all information that is provided to us, which can include comprehensive medical reports or reports from hospital social workers. Some reports can be much more explicit than others. Sometimes we may not know the full circumstances. Our medical officers will make contact with the person's general practitioner or public health nurse, depending on whether the person is in a hospital or community setting, and try to gather all the information on that patient and take it into consideration. The medical officers with all of the information and deciding officers with all of the financial information will then come to a decision. The numbers for discretionary cards over the last year would indicate that we are applying a very sensitive and compassionate approach to all of the information that is presented to us.

Deputy Mitchell O'Connor mentioned the numbers that did not require help. The survey was undertaken in June of this year and was of 900 people who had made applications over the previous year. The results of the survey indicated that a number of people said they did not need help; nevertheless, those who said they did need help identified the most likely places where they would get it. That is why we are embarking on the briefing sessions throughout the country with all of the various cohorts to make sure that anybody who is contacted for information has the most up-to-date information available to them.