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

I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. I have experience of trying to get applications processed that involve a medical assessment. When one tries to find out how long it will take to get such an assessment, the response one gets from the Department is "How long is a piece of string?" There is basically no time limit on medical assessments being carried out. Very often I have had to table a parliamentary question to get the process speeded up. It is noticeable that when one tables a question, one gets an answer within a couple of days whereas it could have been going on for months in advance of that. That is not an adequate way to carry out the assessment process.

Based on the Department's own figures, each medical assessor is dealing with in excess of 2,000 applications annually. That is not counting reviews and other work such assessors have to carry out. Is it the case that only the chief or deputy chief medical assessor can sign off to ensure payment once an assessment has been made?

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