Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In January, the Minister supplied me with detailed figures on the appeals process. I noted that it is a quasi-judicial process and that she had increased the staff to 41 to address the 38,000 appeals last year. Is there not still grave dissatisfaction with the appeals process? As her predecessor as social welfare spokesperson, I urged that the system be put on a statutory basis and given independence. That is still not the case. The bottom line is that we are still waiting on average six and eight months, respectively, for appeals to be decided, summarily or after an oral hearing. Although improvements have been made since 2011, it is still not acceptable.

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