Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I tell the Deputy again that I can only deal in the facts. I have received a daily report on illness benefit since the proverbial hit the fan during the summer. It was an incredibly stressful time for the thousands affected in exactly the manner the Deputy has just described. I apologise sincerely again to all those recipients who were mucked around on foot of our attempt to change things to make them more efficient. It went on for far too long and the goalposts kept moving. When we fixed a problem, we created another one. I acknowledge and accept completely that it was not handled well. At the time, my office and our social welfare offices were inundated. There was no day on which I did not have a queue of Deputies approaching me with lists of individuals in their constituencies who were receiving services like the one Deputy Pringle has just described. Since we made the changes a number of weeks ago, we have gone back to reflecting on the fact that we received 9,000 applications every day which is why people get paid every day. We do not do a payment run on a Friday and pay 55,000 people. People get paid on the day they present for services. They are paid on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It may be different every week for a person who presents his or her certificate on a different day every week. That is how the system is run. I have not had the lists and queues of people outside my door.

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