Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have always been a bit sceptical about that €200 per answer thing, but I take the Deputy's point. I wondered myself when I was appointed to this office why appeals were so successful. If appeals are successful 58% to 60% of the time, it indicates on first pass that something is wrong. However, it seems one of the major reasons there is such a high rate of success in appeals is that we allow new information to be presented on appeal. That is what produces the high success rate. In other countries, for example Britain, one cannot put new information in. That is one change we could make. The concern the chief appeals officer has about publishing all of the decisions is that it would create a great increase in delays on foot of the additional burden that would occur.

In regard to unemployment and the south east, I have good news for the Deputy, which I am sure he will wish to tweet out right away. According to the quarterly household survey figures published today, the number of people employed in the south east has gone up in the last year from 207,000 to 215,000 while the number of people who are unemployed has gone down from 28,500 to 24,900. The south east is increasing jobs, unemployment is falling and great economic progress is being made there. I hope there will be much more.

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