Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 287: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her Department will pay one parent allowance retrospectively where a person (details supplied) in Dublin 5 suffered postnatal illness and never realised their entitlement to claim the allowance, as a result of which their claim was made six years after the original entitlement accrued; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22073/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Social welfare legislation requires that people must claim their entitlements within a specified period from the date on which their entitlement arises. The prescribed time for making a claim is specified in Article 102 (c) of Statutory Instrument 417 of 1994. In the case of one-parent family payment, the prescribed time for making a claim is within 3 months of the date of entitlement.

Section 241 (2) (c) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 states that where a person fails to make a claim for one-parent family payment within the prescribed time, he or she will be disqualified for payment in respect of any period before the date on which the claim is made. The following section (3) states that where a claimant proves to the satisfaction of a deciding officer or an appeals officer that they were entitled to the payment and that there was a good cause for the delay in making the claim, that the claim can be backdated for a period not to exceed 6 months.

According to the records of the Department, the person concerned made a claim for one-parent family payment on 15 September 2005. Payment was awarded from that date. The person applied for a retrospective payment, backdated to the date of birth of her child — 18 June 2000. In accordance with social welfare legislation, a deciding officer awarded retrospective payment for 6 months which resulted in payment of arrears of €3,180.60 for the period 17 March 2005 to 14 September 2005.

The person appealed the deciding officer's decision. An appeals officer upheld the deciding officer's decision. The person concerned was informed on 20 July 2006 of the appeals officer's decision. An appeals officer's decision is final in the absence of new facts or fresh evidence.