Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I am a lay person, not a medical expert, but Oireachtas Members are stakeholders in this in our own way. We will all be dealing with such cases in our constituencies tomorrow. In fairness, the service we receive is always courteous and prompt.

On the appeals process, the first stage is that the deciding officer makes a decision on an application. The applicant then has 21 days to submit an appeal, which will be undertaken not by the appeals office but by a deciding officer within the Department. What percentage of decisions are overturned after this internal review process? I always advise people to apply for the review as they are more likely to get a favourable outcome quickly by that method, whereas submitting an appeal to D'Olier Street will see them waiting months for a decision.