Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was not rolling my eyes. I was trying to catch the Cathaoirleach's attention. I am also a member of the Joint Committee on Autism and we get this day in, day out. This question is probably more for Mr. McKeon than Mr. Molloy with regard to documents and their complexity but it feeds into the appeals process as well and the concerns people have. If a person can handle online, I am all for it. There is absolutely no problem there but in the majority of cases I deal with, unfortunately, and where I come from, people are not up to that speed yet. We have a problem, and the Cathaoirleach will be aware of this, with broadband and feeds, etc. That is ongoing in this case.

I have two subsequent questions. How many online appeals were there versus in-person ones over the past couple of years? I ask the witnesses to provide us with that information and maybe come back to committee on that. That is important for us all. This is a very important process for public representatives. We can only say what is happening with us on the ground. That is all we are doing today. That is the feedback I am getting. Social welfare queries comprise a lot of the work I do day in and day out. As Deputy Ó Cuív said, this is what we are being told. We can outside case after case of problems in the system at the moment. Maybe we should be changing legislation.

I very much welcome the fact that the appeals officer, through the Department, will now have to give a reason for not holding an oral hearing. That is a very positive step forward but I would encourage the in-person oral hearings to continue as much as possible. I have always found them, in 20 years, to be a very fair system. Deputy Ó Cuív is correct. There are black-and-white cases when it comes to invalidity pension contributions that we all know that were never going to win. However, there are cases like that of the guardian payments I mentioned, which need to be in front of an appeals officer. That is the difference and that is what we are trying to get across.