David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 7, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:
"Social Welfare Appeals
6. The Social Welfare Appeals Office shall ensure that all appeals are processed and responded to within 21 days of receipt of the application to appeal a decision.".

I am sure the Minister will agree that the staff in the social welfare appeals offices do a very good job. I would certainly admit that. We all deal with people who come to our offices with a range of social welfare problems whose applications are at appeal stage and who come to us to get some information about what stage their application is at. There seems to be a problem with how long people wait for their appeal decision to be made. If we accept that, we must look at where the problem lies and how we solve it. There is a problem that needs to be addressed and resolved.

I looked back over the debate on Committee Stage in the Dáil. The Minister will be reluctant to be prescriptive in putting a timeframe into legislation. I can see a logic in that. I accept that there needs to be flexibility and that there are occasions where having a longer time period might suit the person who has made the claim because he or she might need to provide documentation. At the same time, it is reasonable for us to look at what is an appropriate level of time during which an appeal should be heard. We would say it is 21 days.

If the Minister is not in a position to accept the amendment, I would ask her to look at a number of issues that add to the problem. The most obvious one is that there has been a reduction in numbers in the public service and an increase in the number of people seeking payments. This obviously has consequences. I accept that more people looking for payments means more applications for all social welfare payments and a greater burden and workload for the Department. This comes back to the public service embargo and whether we are properly resourcing Departments that need to be resourced. If we have an increase in the workload, we should make sure there are sufficient staff there to make sure the applications can be processed as quickly as possible and that people are not waiting unduly for their payments.

Medical assessments are another issue. I recently discussed this with the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. We simply do not have enough medical assessors. This is the case even with people applying for social housing and transfers on medical grounds. I can give an example in Waterford City Council where the medical officer comes in two or three times a year. This person must get through a huge workload involving a considerable volume of applications. The assessor is really only skimming over the applications, which do not get the attention they deserve. The tendency is often to refuse the application, let it go to appeal and then have a look at it. As a result of that and possibly the shortage of medical assessors, social welfare officers simply refuse applications and say the person can appeal and provide any supporting documentation that might be needed.

My colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, would have made the point to the Minister in the Dáil that we could look at improvements in technology, making it easier for people to know the status of the claims and the possibility of an appeal or application number. If one had such a number, one could go online and track it to see where the payment is. I sit on the Constitutional Convention where we had a very good discussion about our electoral and political system. One issue that arose is the notion of localism and clientelism in Irish politics, its impact on the national Legislature and the fact that national politicians carry out a significant amount of work serving constituents. If we are honest, very often much of that work involves trying to get information for people that they should be able to get themselves. Someone could come into my office or that of any Senator or Deputy having applied for a payment three months ago and having not heard anything about it. They simply want to find out what stage their application is at. They try to contact the offices or the appeal numbers but it can be almost an impossible task. They leave their phone number and message but do not receive a return call. We are disempowering those citizens.

We should be empowering citizens and making sure people can get the information themselves without having to go to politicians. The system lends itself to people being forced to politicians to get information. We have direct line numbers as Members of the Oireachtas and can make contact directly with different Departments and get the information for them. Is that really our job? Should there be better public interfaces? This is very relevant in the context of the amendment to section 6 because there is much reform in this area that is being progressed by the Minister and there is much in this Bill that I support. There are some measures I do not support but there are many I do support. However, we need to look at other models. For example, there are one-stop-shops in the UK where a person can give his or her national insurance number, see what application is there and properly track it and get the information themselves. They do not have to go to politicians. I am not saying people should not go to politicians. I am simply saying that in most cases, they only go because they cannot get the information themselves. A holistic approach is necessary to reduce the waiting times for a decision on an application and an appeal.

Our amendment is very specific in respect of time periods. I am second-guessing the Minister by assuming she is not going to accept the amendment. If she will not accept it, she might address the reasons people wait so long for a decision on an appeal to be made. Where are the pressure points, how do we address them and how do we make the process quicker and more efficient so that people get their payments as quickly as possible?