Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If I may, I will congratulate the Tánaiste on her appointment and election as leader of the Labour Party. I also congratulate the new Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, on his appointment to the Department.

The question arises from the extraordinary delays being experienced in having social welfare applications assessed by medical assessors in the Department. In 2013, 21.8 medical assessors had responsibility for dealing with 56,000 applications that required a medical assessment. The purpose of the question is to elicit from the Tánaiste the plans she has to clear the backlog of medical assessments.

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