Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is something I would like to take a proper look at. I am not sure we can do it by Report Stage. It might need to be something we consider for the second social welfare Bill we will have in the spring. One issue, for example, is that very often these cases can take a long time to conclude. They can take two years to conclude on some occasions and some even go on to court. The employer could justifiably argue the reason the delay went on so long in making a decision was not the employer's fault. We cannot reclaim money from people who could reasonably argue a decision made after two years could have been sorted and made in six weeks or six months, and ask why they are paying 18 months' compensation for an administrative delay by State bodies. Another issue is that some of the awards are very small. They can be as little as four weeks' salary. How could we reclaim tens of thousands of euro in social welfare payments based on an award that was very small?

I do not think it is a crazy idea, I just think we need to think about it properly.