Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 9 December 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment

9:30 am

Mr. John McKeon:

There is, therefore, a great differential but when cases come in for appeal, as we said in our opening statement, it is a quasi-judicial process. The staff who look at them are familiar with the law. They are very highly trained on the law and how the law applies to scheme criteria. On medical schemes, for example, it is a subjective judgment on what constitutes a significant level of care or what constitutes a significant incapacity-----