Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the measures in place within her Department to improve processing times of all aspects of the appeals process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24756/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The social welfare appeals process is quasi-judicial and the procedures are designed to ensure that every appellant's case gets full and satisfactory consideration. It is necessary for the Appeals Officer to be satisfied that he/she has all the facts before making a decision on a case. The Appeals Officer must give the person making the appeal and the Deciding Officer the opportunity to make their views known on the facts of the appeal. In addition, in some cases it may be necessary to have further investigations carried out by the Department's Social Welfare Inspectors or Medical assessors and this, of course, can give rise to inevitable time lags in processing appeals.

In order to speed up the process, the Department introduced a right of review in 2002 to ensure that members of the public who receive adverse decisions could have them reviewed by Deciding Officers in the light of any new evidence they brought forward. People whose claims are disallowed or who are otherwise dissatisfied with a decision are advised they should bring any new facts or evidence to the attention of the Deciding Officer in the first instance for re-examination and, if appropriate, a revised decision. They are informed of this right is in addition to their right of appeal. They can seek a Deciding Officer's review before making an appeal or can do both concurrently. The right of appeal to the social welfare appeals office remains an option if the review by the deciding officer is not fruitful.

I am advised that the Social Welfare Appeals Office deals with over 14,000 appeals on an annual basis and the provision of a prompt service remains a major customer service objective for the Office. Available resources are prioritised to the greatest possible extent so as to achieve the best possible standard of service to its customers. However, due to the quasi judicial nature of the social welfare appeals system, any improvements made in processing times must be achieved in a manner which is consistent with natural justice and the need to ensure that every appeal is fully investigated and determined on all its circumstances.