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

I am happy to reaffirm that in budget 2020 my Department has been allocated €21.2 billion, an increase of 3.4% on 2019.  This allocation ensures that the Department can continue to protect our customers and make improvements to the schemes and services in the coming year.  Among the priorities that I set out in the budget is a continued commitment to provide timely access to decisions, payments and reviews for all schemes and services.

My Department has an ongoing commitment to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. A recent review of processing performance by the Comptroller and Auditor General found that the Department "exceeded or was close to reaching the target volume of claims to be processed within specified processing standards for most schemes".  There were a number of exceptions to this. Although good progress was reported in the time to award applications for schemes with the longest waiting times, it was noted that some schemes, particularly illness and caring related schemes, were not yet meeting their performance targets.

I am pleased to report that since the Comptroller and Auditor General reviewed performance earlier this year, good progress has been made, particularly with the illness related schemes.  For example, the time to award a carer's allowance claim is now shorter than at any time over the past ten years.  There is still more progress to be made and the Department will continue to examine its procedures and resources to identify opportunities to reduce processing times still further.

I ask all Deputies to help the Department by conveying the message that when people make applications to the Department they should provide complete application forms and all the supporting documentation required, which is set out in the checklist at the back of the application forms. For example, applicants for illness related schemes should provide information on all their medical conditions and on their means. In some cases, people hold back some medical information on the basis that they think they might need it for the appeal. While I recognise that this means people have a mindset that we will say "No" and they will have to appeal, we only say "No" when we do not have the full volume of information that is required. Deputies should encourage people to make a full application at the beginning.

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