Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no direct correlation between the number and percentage of disability allowance decisions and the number of appeals that are registered during a particular time period as time differences always apply. This is particularly the case given that appeals regulations that came into effect on 28 April last year are now giving customers 60 days to make an appeal from the date of their decision. This is an increase from 21 days previously. Accordingly, appeals received in January 2026 may refer to decisions that were made in November 2025. However, as an indication of the appeal rate, 8,786 disability allowance decisions were made during quarter 1 of this year with 1,951 appeals being registered in the same period. That represents an appeal rate of approximately 22%. A total of 24% of appeals that were determined by appeals officers were allowed in favour of the appellant with a further 36% awarded by the decisions team without the need to complete the formal appeals process. Taken together, this means that 60% of appeals received had a favourable outcome, which represents about 13% of all disability allowance decisions that are made.

It is important to note that where decisions are allowed on receipt of an appeal, this may not mean that the initial decision was incorrect. A decision can be revised because the person making an appeal provides additional information that was not made available when the decision was first made. In other jurisdictions, appellants are not allowed to submit additional information but instead are required to submit a new claim. By referring the appeal papers back to the deciding team for a review, the process is more flexible. It does not require a person to restart his or her entire claims process. As a result, 606 of the 1,096 disability allowance appeals granted in quarter 1 of 2026, which is about 60%, were made by way of revised decision of the scheme deciding officers.

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