Dáil debates

Tuesday, 29 June 2010

 

Social Welfare Appeals

4:00 am

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

That is only a small part of the issue. For example, as the Deputy is probably aware, in a lot of cases where further information is provided there is a short circuit system which goes back to the Department. The Deputy can be assured that I will be working with the appeals office to try to address this issue on all fronts, including information technology, better work methods and so on. I am determined to rapidly decrease the amount of time it takes to process appeals. Deputy Enright made a very valid point in asking if there was any way we could reduce the number of appeals in the first place and have our decision making process such that fewer people would feel they wanted to appeal. That is the first step in the whole process. We will work through every step to try to make it more efficient and deliver a better service.

Comments

Donna McCash
Posted on 26 Aug 2010 12:12 am (Report this comment)

As you know Eamon the trouble I am having with the appeals office,,I honestly believe the staff are incompetent,,for my appeal letter to sit there for 8 weeks before they acknowledge it because I forgot to put my PPS number on it,,,they threw it to the bottom of the pile,,all they had to do was type in my name and it would have came up,,,so as far as I,m concerned,,,its the staff.

9 months I,m in this country for and still they havent dealt with anything, again Staff losing all my forms,,this has to be the staff,s fault,,,not the goverment,,and yes there needs to be more efficient staff in these places to quickly deal with these appeals.

I had an idea months ago of how to deal with so many on Social Welfare, people are being refused (including myself) of this Habitual Residence, it would be more durable if the Social Welfare paid people coming into this country for a period of time,,to get them settled and look for work,,,they would be told say for example::if they havent found a job in 6 months then their payments would be stopped, that way if they knew they wouldnt get help from the goverment, they would make sure they found work, except for the elderly and disabled of course, alot of people who abuse the system is making it harder for people who want to work, (like myself).

As you know the appeals office has stopped me getting this job as they wont deal with my claim asap, for me to get off the social (after all my appeal has been in 8 weeks now, and there saying I have to wait 3 more months now,,through no fault of my own,,,their faults,,,and yet I have to suffer, that isnt fair),,and I bet there are hundreds, maybe thousands more like me in this situation, this rule I have heard,, that these workers cant get fired is ridiculas,,so thats telling me they can sit about and do nothing to sort out this mess, and get away with it, believe me,,they would soon get through these appeals if they thought they would get fired, for having these back logues in the first place,,and to be honest there needs to be more staff, which would mean fewer people on the social, its common sense..

Donna McCash

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