Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number and percentage of disability allowance decisions that are appealed; the number and percentage of decisions that are overturned on appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29507/26]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I am asking this question on behalf of my colleague an Teachta Darren O'Rourke. It is fairly straightforward. It is just looking for the number and percentage of disability allowance decisions that are appealed, and the number and percentage of decisions overturned on appeal. What we are seeking to understand is the reasoning. In most circumstances, nothing changes materially, so it is essentially the same person submitting the same claim again. Sometimes it is overturned.

My feeling is that a high number of cases are overturned on appeal but I await the figures from the Minister.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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Sixty percent of them?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I will come back to that.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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It had better be something good because that is not a good figure. It is traumatic for people to have to go through the application process. I know the Minister has sat in his constituency office with people and has gone through these forms the same as I have, so he knows these forms are not easy. They are necessarily comprehensive and I am not for a moment suggesting that the information should not be collected but if 60% of them result in what the Minister refers to as a favourable outcome, that is not exactly a massive endorsement of the process that happens initially. With regard to 60% of them being overturned, the Minister says that new information can be provided but that is not an indication that there is new information. In my experience, very often, it involves the same information and the same person with the same disability and 60% of them are being overturned. That figure is one that should cause the Minister some concern.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I have emphasised that 60% did not go into an appeals process. There was engagement with the person through that. As I said, in other jurisdictions, the person would be asked to submit an entirely new application. In respect of the 40%, if that decision remained unchanged, the appeal went to a formal determination by the appeals officer. The appeals officer then examined the documentary evidence that was presented and considered the appeal. Where an oral hearing is required, the appellant is generally given up to two or three weeks advance notice. A person can avail of an oral hearing.

Regarding going back to the original team and providing extra information, I have drilled into this quite considerably over 15 months as Minister. It is getting about the information, which can be difficult at times, and getting the medical information. We have tried to ask our team to engage with medical professionals so that there is consistency in the information that is provided. I accept that this is a very difficult process and I do not want to make people's difficult journeys even more difficult but, equally, there is a minimum threshold of information we need to make a decision and we continue to engage with medical professionals in particular in that space.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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Those figures are not brilliant. The Minister can present it any way he likes but those are not good figures. He mentioned medical professionals. The problem is not specific to Balbriggan but the most recent case that was brought to me is in Balbriggan where doctors are now refusing to fill out these forms and not just for people on the medical card, although it happens a lot with people on the medical card. I always encourage my constituents to appeal where a decision goes against them if I feel they have grounds for that. Increasingly, I am advising people to appeal but they have to go back to their doctors now and they are not getting the forms filled out. The doctors are just point blank refusing them. The former Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly, was in the newspapers sometime back regarding all the money he gets, and rightly so, for the medical card patients he has but some of these practices are getting a lot of money from the State and are then refusing to handle requirements for applications for payments from the State. It is a bit much. I know that is somewhat tangential but it is a very serious issue.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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It is not tangential. It is really crucial that we get consistency of information and a certain level of information and engagement. I will revert with regard to that. During quarter 1 of this year, nearly 9,000 disability allowance decisions were accepted and approved so we also have to look at the overall approval rate, which continues to be quite high. I will follow up with engagement with the various organisations regarding the consistency of information that is provided. It is important our medical assessors and appeals teams have engagement and consistency around the information that is provided. What the Deputy said was not tangential. It is crucial to the quality of the application. Those making these applications deserve that level of support and that level of consistency from medical professionals with regard to the completion of their application forms.