Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The simple answer on this subject that I follow with interest, and I am not speaking ex cathedra anseo, is that the percentage has not changed dramatically. It is a percentage of the number of applications, not of the total number of people in payment. It concerns the number of people who have made new applications. There has been a surge in the number of applications for illness benefit and carer's allowance. Much of this goes back to what Senator McFadden said, that people on jobseeker's benefit apply for jobseeker's allowance when it runs out, they have a spouse with an occupation and then they apply for the carer's allowance. The person being cared for must be medically qualified and people are pursuing different avenues. We all know these people in the constituency clinics. There are many more applications and people are making more than one application. To my knowledge, there is no change in the percentage of applications decided on. Many people are transferring from jobseeker's benefit to jobseeker's allowance. Jobseeker's benefit has relatively few appeals because if someone has not made the contributions, they do not receive the payment. If the person attends the clinic of a Member of the Houses, he or she could count the number of contributions and explain that the number of contributions was insufficient according to the rule in the book. The Member could then advise the constituents that an appeal would not work. On the other hand, in the means test, the cattle, sheep, pigs and cows are all counted and it is much more subjective. Inevitably, people go to a clinic when they are disappointed with the level of payment they receive and the Member may ask if the person included all the hay and the silage he has bought. The person might say they forgot to put in the hay-----