Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have received apologies from Senator Paul Gavan.

Members participating remotely are required to be within the precincts of Leinster House. I ask members and witnesses to please turn off their mobile phones or ensure they are in silent mode. I ask members participating remotely to please use the raise-hand function on Teams if they wish to contribute.

We are meeting to discuss the new social welfare (appeals) regulations with the Department of Social Protection and the Chief Appeals Officer. The social welfare appeals office was established to provide an independent appeals service to people unhappy with the decisions of deciding officers of the Department of Social Protection regarding their entitlement to a social welfare payment or support. As Members of the Oireachtas, we all deal with the office daily. We have all found it and the staff to be both independent and fair. We all believe this is a vital cog in our social welfare system. On many occasions, access to an oral hearing has led to the righting of a wrong by the Department. In many cases, these wrongs arose through no fault of the Department and were due to difficulties with applicants accurately presenting their cases in written form for desktop consideration. This is none more so the case than in the area of disability.

As members will be aware, if an individual does not agree with the decision made by a deciding officer as to his or her social welfare entitlement, he or she can ask for a review of the decision by the Department. He or she can also appeal the decision to the social welfare appeals office, which can evaluate it. Following both internal and external reviews carried out on the operation of the office, and in light of the new working arrangements brought about through the Covid-19 pandemic, new regulations have been drafted to make changes to the operation of the office. While the committee expressed reservations last November with regard to the then forthcoming regulations and has received correspondence in this regard, it is hoped that the regulations will give people who make appeals more certainty about the time periods that will apply for their appeals, allow people who make appeals to get more information about how their appeals are being dealt with, improve the operation of the social welfare appeals office and improve the quality of decisions both by the Department's deciding officer and the appeals officers.

We are joined by the Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection, Mr. John McKeon, and the new chief appeals officer, Mr. Brian Molloy. They are both very welcome here this morning.

Before we begin, I wish to explain some limitations to parliamentary privilege, and the practice of the Houses with regard to references the witnesses may make to other persons in their evidence. The evidence of witnesses physically present or who give evidence from within the parliamentary precincts is protected, pursuant to both the Constitution and statute, by absolute privilege. Witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity, by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if the witnesses' statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that witnesses comply with any such direction. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise, or make charges against a person inside or outside the House or an official, by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I now call on Mr. McKeon to make his opening statement.