Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

There were 13,419 appeals in 2005, 47% of which had a favourable outcome for the appellant, that is, they were either fully or partially allowed or resolved by way of a revised decision on the part of a deciding officer. The same figure of 47% also applies to the previous year. A total of 41% of cases going to appeal were disallowed, which was much the same as the previous year. A further 12% were withdrawn or otherwise not pursued. Hence in 2005, of the 13,000 cases that went to appeal, 47% received a favourable result.

I can see the Deputy's point in that one can draw a couple of conclusions from such figures. For example, given such a high rate of successful appeals, one could question why one should bother going through the process at all. However, this is a quasi-judicial function and one must keep this issue in proportion. Last year, the Department received more that 1.75 million claims, most of which were fairly automatic and did not have any associated problems. However, of the 1.75 million claims, 13,000 were appealed and 47% of the latter were successful after an appeal.

This process is independent and I join the Deputy in complimenting those involved. While pressure is maintained on this issue, it is not simply a question of resources. Like any quasi-judicial case, such matters have their own timeframe. Sometimes, one is obliged to get more information from the applicant and must wait for it to become available. Similarly, one might be obliged to acquire information from financial institutions and consequently must contact and have discussions with them. Moreover, oral hearings are heard. Procedures are in place that one cannot necessarily chop too finely and it takes a matter of months before an appeal can be processed.

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