Ms Catherine Hynes:

When we realised that a backlog was building up on the number of appeals outstanding we decided that the best course of action would be for the Minister to appoint two appeals officers. In May 2017, two appeals officers were appointed. In May 2018, two appeals officers were offered reappointment. One person accepted the offer and the other person could not because of personal reasons but at that stage the appeals backlog had been eliminated. Our statistics at the moment show that there are 45 appeals of which eight have arrived in the past week. The Department provides administrative support to the appeals officer which is why we can monitor and keep a close eye on the situation. If the appeals backlog starts to build up again then remediation measures will be taken.

The appeals process is not straightforward. Let us say a person lodges an appeal. Caranua has the right to respond on the basis of that appeal. We know of one particular case where the applicant was written to over a year ago but the appeals process has not been concluded yet on the basis that information is being sought. We also know that when all of the paperwork has been completed and the appeals officer gets the completed file that his decision, on average, has taken just five weeks to conclude. Unfortunately, because of the backlog and legacy issues, the statistics skew the length of time people must wait to hear the determination of an appeal. We are very conscious that the population of the people out there have particular needs and are an aging population. What no process wants to do is cause further distress.

Mr. Costello mentioned the issue of applicants being assigned to an application adviser. That is the way Caranua operates. When Caranua receives an application and an application adviser is available then the applicant will be assigned to a particular individual who will take over the case.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan mentioned phone calls. We have been assured that whatever phone number the person chooses to use is the one that Caranua will use to communicate with the person. The volume of phone calls is such that the preferred method of communication is by phone. Again, returning to the literacy issues that people have mentioned, there is a realisation that for people with literacy issues their preferred method of communication is the phone.

When Caranua was established it was designed in order that it would complement not replace State services. In terms of an aging population and the mainstream services such as housing assistance and whatever, our job in setting up the interdepartmental committee is to consider how mainstream services can support people as they age and whether existing services, such as the adaptation of bathrooms, for example, are sufficient to enable survivors to continue to live in their own homes for as long as they wish.

The staff of Caranua have continually offered us, as the Department, the opportunity to sit in and listen to how they deal with people. Indeed, an invitation has been extended to Members of the Oireachtas; if they want to visit Caranua and see how staff deal with survivors, on an individual basis, then they would be more than welcome to do so. Obviously the arrangements would have to be cleared with survivors beforehand.

Again, because we have no access to and cannot access the personal data that is held on individuals, if there are instances, which Senator Gavan has mentioned, where an individual was treated ignorantly by Caranua staff at their premises then I ask the member to raise the matter directly with Caranua. I am sure that Caranua would be very anxious to correct any mistreatment of people.