Mr. John McKeon:

The issue there is that the particular scheme they applied for is a means-tested scheme and it is also subject to medical tests. Of their nature, it takes time for people to produce the necessary documentation, for it to be reviewed, for the earnings to be checked against Revenue records and so on. That is of its nature and is an appropriate approach to take to try to reduce the level of fraud and error. As the Deputy says, as a Department, we need to have those controls but we also need to be empathetic in certain situations. I would certainly encourage Deputies who have examples of constituents in such situations to not hesitate to contact us. We can turn around those applications very quickly but we need to know about them. For disability allowance, we get between 35,000 and 40,000 applications a year. I am not saying it is a needle in a haystack but the staff who are dealing with those are dealing with a large volume of applications. We have got to get through them. Therefore, the exceptions need to be brought to our attention. Generally speaking, when they are brought to our attention, they are dealt with very quickly.