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

I think there is confusion over the figures. Some 28,150 decisions were made. As I said, 13,000 of those were granted. Some 2,700 appeals were allowed by the appeals office, that is, 10% of the overall number of decisions were agreed in the appeals office. Some people do not meet the medical conditions of the scheme set out in the Act. We in the Department must have checks on any scheme we roll out. We must have criteria with which people must comply. Some people just do not meet the criteria. That is the reality, unfortunately. They can appeal. Of the 28,150 decisions, there were 5,575 appeals. Of those appeals, 2,712 were granted. Those are the facts. Some 80% of awarded claims were given by the Department of Social Protection and 20% were given by the appeals office. Just 10% of decisions made were claims granted by the appeals office. I wanted to clarify that.