Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If an application is made and all the information is provided, the answer is provided within two weeks. There will sometimes be cases where all the information is not provided and it takes longer.

If the Deputy gives me the specific case, I am happy to have it looked into. Specific cases are what I need. Sometimes when all the information comes to hand, it might not be what it originally seemed to be. I am not saying that is true of the Deputy’s case in Cavan.

We have put more staff into this section and there are a number of ways people can contact the service. They can go into the Intreo office in Cavan, which is open five days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They can see a community welfare officer in there and explain their situation.

Some of the work is being done at a central office, which has helped to eradicate the backlog. There is no backlog now. We have been working extremely hard in trying to get these numbers down because we want to help people. That is what we are here for.

See this speech in context