Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 296: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason for the long delay in hearing the appeal of a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [12854/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned has been in receipt of disablement benefit from injuries he received in a motor accident which he sustained in the course of his work in May 2001. His claim was reviewed in April 2004 and, following an examination by a medical assessor of my Department, his loss of faculty was provisionally assessed at 20% for a further six months period. The person appealed this decision in June 2004 and, following an oral hearing in March 2005, his appeal was disallowed and loss of faculty was affirmed at 20%. The person concerned was informed of the appeals officer's decision on 15 March 2005.

This appeal was processed by way of oral hearing and the earliest that it could be heard was early March 2005. In this regard, precedence is given to cases where the appeal concerns payments that constitute a person's primary source of income. The claim in this instance concerns a payment that is normally additional to a basic social welfare payment or, as in this case, additional to the person's ordinary income, as he had returned to work.

Under social welfare legislation, decisions in regard to claims must be made by deciding officers and appeals officers. These officers are statutorily appointed and I have no role in making decisions.