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

I acknowledge that the changes made in recent years have been beneficial, in the main, in that people are not waiting as long as in the past. However, it is still very frustrating for those who make an application for carer's allowance or another allowance and who, on inquiring about their application, are told that processing has not even begun and or that it will take a number of months. Flowing from this, one of the problems identified last year was that wrong decisions were being made and many applications ended up in the social welfare appeals office. Following the changes in the assessment of applications, has the accuracy of decisions improved? In the past, up to 50% of the original decisions by social welfare deciding officers were overturned on appeal.

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