Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The intention of my amendment is not to tie up the Department, other than that there would a response to the appellant within 21 days. I understand the Minister's point about the final decision.

One of the beauties of the system is that up to the date of an appeal, an applicant can submit additional documentation, and even during an appeal it might be noted that an applicant has additional information that was not supplied which can also be taken into account. Obviously there are and will be delays in the process. Applicants who submit appeals find it frustrating not to have any information regarding the status of their appeal. They submit their appeals and hope the Department will transfer their files to the social welfare appeals office as quickly as possible. They live in hope that their appeals will be dealt with, either summarily or by getting a date for an oral hearing, but sometimes they have to wait for months for a decision without receiving any indication regarding the progress of their appeals.

With all the advances in technology, a mechanism might be developed whereby an applicant could be given an appeal number that would enable them to check online what is happening regarding the progress of their appeal in that section or in other sections. That might satisfy the applicants to a degree and it might also put the skids under them to get their act together to submit additional documentation. On a number of occasions people have contacted me regarding their appeal, having submitted it a number of months previously, but they had not gone to the trouble of submitting the additional information. If would be useful if a system could be put in place under which they would be allocated a number that would enable them to track the progress of their appeal and note that a decision on it would be made in, say, another week, six weeks or eight weeks. That would also be helpful for the appeals office. I am not an expert on developing that type of system but it is possible for applicants to track the progress of their applications for other services. That might be useful and it may or may not have been tried.

The purpose of my amendment is not to tie down the appeals office to deliver the final result within a set time but to ensure an applicant is given some type of response. I am willing to withdraw the amendment if a promise is made that a commitment will be given - a commitment was made that the waiting times would be reduced, all things being equal - that applicants will be communicated with more quickly.

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