Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I just want to remind members who might be participating online that if they wish put questions, they might use the raise hand function on MS Teams.

I will put a couple of questions for the moment, if that is okay. I just want to echo what the Chair said with regard to in-person oral hearings. I can see how the temptation would be to move to remote hearings as it is handier for everybody to have the kettle nearby, etc. However, we have to be conscious of that technological barrier. For some appellants, it will be absolutely more suitable for them to avail of a remote hearing and they will want that option. However, we should be aware and conscious of there perhaps being a bias towards remote hearings because they will be easier to put together. We have all become used to MS Teams. However, I am not sure, as the Chair outlined, that everybody who is availing of the appeals system will be equally comfortable with that.

On the oral hearings from an Irish language perspective, we hear the availability of services through the Irish language is not always as consistent as we like. Is there a facility within the Department if somebody wants to avail of oral hearings trí mheán na Gaeilge? Do we have somebody who has the sufficient level of Gaeilge to be able to facilitate that request?

One of the goals of the Department is to have appeals heard and dealt with within 15 working days. What is the status of that and how many appeals fall outside of that current goal?

Following on from that, our guests' opening statement referred to the ICT system upgrade being at tender stage. Is there a timeline for delivering that? There is a long list of recommendations and points to which the Department wants to get within its updated set of regulations. Where are we with that? It looks to be a fine list but how long is it expected to take before the recommendations in the list are implemented and in place?