Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If we found that the other remainder will be done in 16 and a half weeks we could say fine, but it is not our experience. Our experience is that are a number of these that are going on and on. People are living in limbo and we need to get those figures. This is the big performance measure on the social welfare schemes. It is time and waiting. It is a waste of the witnesses' time, our time and particularly the applicants' time in checking again and again when they will be heard.

One final point; one of the things we presume is that the medical people know the measure of which you are measuring the capability or the entitlement. In other words, full-time care and attention relates to carers, while the inability to work is the phrase in the legislation in relation to disability allowance or invalidity pension and so on. On the medical forms for the doctor, it would be important to explain to them exactly and in short order - we do not want two pages of explanation - what are the things you are trying to find out so that you get a clear assessment as long as the details of what is medically wrong with them are taken and described. You get a clear assessment of whether in the opinion of the medic that the person is whatever, be it incapable of work or needs long-term care and attention, and what that means in simple English. I know it is available but if you are a busy medic with different forms coming in with different rules for different schemes, you are just signing a general medical certificate and while you are answering specific questions, you do not really know what the purpose of the question is. It would be a big help and take a lot of uncertainty out of it. It would probably cut down the time it takes to go over and back again.