Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I join earlier speakers in extending good wishes to Jeremy Wilmshurst in his new role and thank him for how very helpful and pleasant he always was to deal with. I also wish George every success in his new role.

Last week, when I raised the issue of the humanitarian assistance scheme, the Ceannaire indicated that the Minister for Social Protection would be invited to the Chamber to address concerns about the scheme. There are other concerns the Minister might address at the same time, such as the length of time it takes for social welfare appeals. I was contacted by a constituent on Friday who lodged an appeal eight months ago against a decision on invalidity pension, yet a decision has still not been reached. She is not alone; many others are waiting for decisions for eight, nine or ten months, and possibly longer. It is taking such a long time that I wonder if there are insufficient resources in the appeals office or whether too many payments like disability allowance, carer's allowance and domiciliary care allowance, DCA, are being refused. They are the ones that are commonly refused. At least half, if not more, of the refused applications are granted on appeal. We must look at the schemes and see if there is a problem with the application process, whether people are not clear about what they must submit, or whether they are being turned down for the wrong reasons, given that many of the appealed applications are granted and paid in the end, albeit after a lot of stress and the extra work involved in having to appeal the decision.