Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

An alternative approach would be to set up an independent agency. The Deputy should remember that the claims on the Department in this respect are very large. The number of people has reached 102,000. The adviser who is the expert is the person's own doctor. The Department of Social Protection is not a medical service. We are asking medical experts to examine what the person's own doctor or medical adviser has said. In many cases, there is probably some work to be done in that regard. It is a question of whether the person can do some work. It is not possible for everyone to be taken in for a detailed medical assessment by the Department.

Quite frankly, the Department would not have the resources to examine more than 100,000 people. Approximately 25,000 apply for this benefit each year. We simply would not have the resources. We would also be duplicating the work of the person's own medical advisers. If the Deputy is suggesting there should be a separate medical expert system, perhaps that can be examined. The Department's resources would not stretch to examining everybody. One would be talking about over 100,000 people, or approximately 25,000 new people each year. We have to rely on the person's own medical experts. It is then a question of the presentation of the evidence and the decisions that are reached. The administrative assistants who administer the payments base their decisions on what the medical experts and assessors have to say.

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