Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank both Deputies for their contributions. I will re-examine the useful suggestions made by the Deputy Ó Snodaigh. Deputy Willie O'Dea spoke about training. A total of 13,000 individual training days were delivered to staff in 2013. We are actively working on this. He also suggested that examples of the Department's decisions be published to provide a better understanding of the process. I do not have the note to hand but, as far as I know, examples are published in the annual report. I am saying that off the top of my head so I will need to go back and look at it.

Although over 50% of cases are overturned on appeal, this does not mean the original decision was wrong in each case. The Deputies know there are many occasions on which people come to our offices and we find out that information was left out of the appeal submission. That shows the flexibility of the system. There is no cut-off date for information to be submitted and it will be accepted at any stage. That can add to the length of the decision.

The Department is working hard to make improvements. We are trying to implement better information gathering at the initial claim stage, which will lead to better decisions. There should also be better explanations for the reasons behind decisions, which will make it easier for customers to understand the decisions and reduce unnecessary appeals. We are actively working on that point. Improvements in review processing times will be examined. Decisions made and notifications to the citizen could be in better or clearer English, because people have different levels of literacy. Official forms can be quite challenging for all of us. I will look at that.

Oral hearings are always granted when requested unless there is a compelling reason not to do so.

Applicants are always told they may get their file from the Department. Deputy Ó Snodaigh touched on that in his contribution that people are aware of it but that sometimes even when they get the file, it is of no great assistance. That was pointed out in the FLAC report also. There are regular meetings of appeals officers to try to ensure continuity across the system.

It is in all our interests that we drive down the length of time this takes as much as possible. Deputy Ó Snodaigh suggested that this go to a committee. I do not think the proposal needs to go to Committee Stage but an exchange, possibly at a committee, would be interesting because many Deputies have experience, sometimes much more than myself, because of the volume of constituency queries received. There is a wealth of experience which could be tapped into by the Department and sharing those experiences could mean a better and faster decision for the applicant.

I pay particular credit to the staff who work in the appeals office. Since the recession, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of appeals - I gave the figures earlier - and that reflects the high unemployment rate. The number of appeals has reduced and the length of time it takes for an appeal to be heard has reduced significantly. That is due to the civil servants who work in the Department. I did not want to finish without mentioning the trojan work done by, and the level of change and reform in, the Department to bring the figure down by more than 50%, which Deputy Ó Snodaigh rightly pointed out. That is exceptional at a time of grave economic difficulty. I thank Deputy O'Dea for raising the issue and the Deputies for their contributions.

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