Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here. I do not raise this topic in the House with any appetite. I must commend the work many people who work in the Department of Social Protection have done throughout the pandemic, particularly with the pandemic unemployment payment. It has been great to see the massive turnaround time in terms of people getting their entitlements. At the outset, I must put that on the record. There are, however, a number of cases I have come across in recent months in respect of which there have been excessive delays in processing applications for various entitlements, be it for carer’s allowance, disability allowance, pension applications, or whatever the case may be. For people who seek an appeal, there seems to be a very long list.

In preparation for this debate, I looked over figures from previous years and I saw that back in 2011, the average waiting time for an appeal was up to 32 weeks. When the Minister of State responds, I would be interested to hear how that compares with today’s figures in terms of how long people are waiting for their appeals to be heard.

As I said, I do not raise this issue lightly. In the case of people who are appealing a decision on the carer's allowance, for example, and are awaiting an adjudication, they cannot take up other employment in the time being. They are mostly likely caring for someone full-time. In many cases, people are waiting for a period of time, with some waiting up to six months, from what I hear.

I got an email from a Department official this week which stated that one pension appeal being dealt with could take anything up to six months before a final decision is made. That is what triggered the bringing forward of this Topical Issue matter this evening. In the case of people waiting on carer’s allowance, or whatever the case may be, many risk destitution if they have to wait that length of time or risk borrowing money in the meantime. Some might borrow from friends or family, if they have that type of resource, but others, unfortunately, will resort to moneylenders and that is where we face a risk.

I have a number of questions for the Minister of State. If he has breakdown of waiting times for the various entitlements, I would appreciate that. What is the breakdown of waiting times for the number of appeals? What is his opinion on what is an appropriate time to wait to hear an appeal? We can work back from that. If it is a case that we do not have sufficient staff or resources, I would make an appeal to the Minister of State, and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, that it would be appropriate to provide additional staff and resources to bring down those waiting times.

As I said, it is more about information. I commend the Department of Social Protection and its staff on the work they have done throughout the pandemic. If the Minister of State could elaborate on the issue of waiting times, I would appreciate it.

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