Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I would not accept in any sense that this is a good control measure because more than half the people who appealed in those three instances were found to be entitled to the payment which means that there was no issue of fraud or of trying to pull the wool over the Department's eyes. These people were entitled to the payment and had to wait the initial application time, which could have been 19 weeks in Boyle, and then had to wait five months in the case of jobseeker's allowance.

The medical documents for the carer's and disability allowances are not a problem because most people would have proved on application that the person was entitled to the benefit. I would like some figures from the Minister on why these appeals are being granted. She may be able to supply them afterwards. I do not think insufficient information accounts for all those successful appeals. Anyone in the House could give the Minister examples of appeals they have lodged for people that have nothing to do with insufficient information. It is a substantial number and it is very unfair that these people are being asked to wait.

The Minister has not answered my question about the breakdown of the initial assessment because while there are different types of payments, the people in the Department who deal with carer's allowance deal exclusively with that payment, and likewise the jobseeker's and disability allowances. They are experts in their areas so it is not a question of being a different type of payment. They know how to deal with the applications and there must be a breakdown for such a sizeable success rate in appeals. This needs to be dealt with.

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