Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

Thank you. This amendment arises out of Committee Stage and I understand all Members received representations from FLAC in respect of it. FLAC is concerned about the operation of the rent supplement and the mortgage interest supplement especially as the current appeal procedure is overly cumbersome and can result in lengthy delays. It is a three-stage appeal system whereby if a person applies to a community welfare officer for a mortgage interest supplement and is turned down, he or she can then appeal the application to the HSE and following that stage has another opportunity to appeal it to the chief appeals officer of the Department of Social and Family Affairs, but the difficulty is that the person must submit the appeal application to the HSE and then the papers are relayed to the chief appeals officer. Experience of the appeals process indicates there are quite lengthy delays at the level of the HSE and, in some cases, rather than referring the appeal to the chief appeals officer of the Department, the HSE sends the papers back to the superintendent community welfare officer for that officer's views. In one case that was brought to my attention there was a delay of approximately 20 weeks before the papers were passed on to the chief appeals officer. The current position is unacceptable. It seems to be overly bureaucratic, cumbersome and subject to delays. The whole system should be streamlined and the application for the final stage of an appeal should go to the chief appeals officer, as happens in the case of social welfare claims that have been refused.

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