Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will go back to the exceptional needs payment because I think there is a blockage somewhere, especially in communication. People who apply for the payment or any other social protection payment are in need. It is the only reason they would apply for a payment. I found one case especially disturbing. It involved a person who applied for a social protection payment in early October and has had very little, if any, information back. Nothing has come back from the Department in the past three or four weeks. I have also made contact with the Department on two occasions, as recently as yesterday, and have received nothing back. This person is in dire need. After I leave this meeting, I will make some phone calls to try to find out exactly what the reason is. It relates to an exceptional needs payment and also a disability payment, which was cut off for this person.

I believe there is a difficulty here. I heard the Minister talk about extra staff and I understand a considerable amount of pressure has been put on the system, obviously with Ukrainian refugees. However, people are in need and they need support when they ask for it or within a reasonable timeframe. Nobody is asking for a request to be dealt with the following day or even within three or four days. Five days is reasonable if the Department is under pressure and says it will deal with the case as quickly as it can. However, we are talking the guts of a month with regard to the case I raised. Contact could at least have been made. Messages are coming back to say the case is in review. The same message is coming back to the person in question. A bit more information is needed or someone needs to pick up the phone and say the Department is close to dealing with the application or even that it is being accepted but further information is needed.