Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, we do not have any numbers on rejections. As I said, a person can appeal to another department if he or she is not happy with the outcome. Rather than going back to the same person, he or she can appeal to another higher grade officer who deals with that.

I will go back to the issue of the post offices. Just to be very clear here, we have a control system within the Department of Social Protection. I am sure the Deputy is well aware there were some very high-profile cases where people had been claiming social welfare while not living in the country. If a person has to present at the post office, that means he or she has to be in the country. The vast majority of people who get social welfare payments deserve them. That is a fact. There are those, and we saw a case in the news only last night, who claim social welfare to which they are not entitled or who claim it on behalf of others when they should not be doing so. We have a control unit and we crack down on that because this is taxpayers’ money. We have to be conscious of that. I would say once again that the vast majority of people, and there are many of them, who receive social payments are well entitled to them and deserve every penny that they get. I just wish to be clear on that and I will leave it at that.