Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

The Minister described the context to us of where we are and where we were. It is very difficult to deal with a couple before one in a clinic who cannot pay their mortgage or ESB bills and whose telephone has been cut off, who cannot afford to clothe and properly feed their family because they are waiting for their application to be processed. One cannot just tell them that due to the unemployment situation being worse they will have to expect to wait a bit longer. One needs to have a feel for the position in which they find themselves.

The Minister has told us half the story. The questions relate to jobseeker's allowance. What about the length of time it is taking for appeals? What does the Minister intend to do to address that? The average time taken to assess an appeal for jobseeker's allowance and means is almost 23 weeks and more than 18 weeks for the rest of jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit.

The average waiting time is not seven weeks everywhere. There is a continuing problem in the social welfare office in Edenderry which happens to be in my constituency. This is my fifth Question Time to ask the Minister about the Edenderry office. The waiting time there is still 14.5 weeks. Why are the schemes-----

See this speech in context