Mr. John McKeon:

At the moment we have 44 appeals officers. Not so long ago, we had fewer than 30. We have increased staffing in the appeals office and we think we probably have enough resources. There is a backlog to deal with and we may put in temporary staff to deal with this but it is difficult to do this in the appeals office and I will explain why. The social welfare consolidation legislation and all the regulations mean that we need experienced staff. It takes about a year or so for an appeals officer to get up to full speed, even with a lot of training. We can put in temporary staff in the claims processing area but in the appeals area, I think we just have to work through the backlog over a period.