Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if this parliamentary question will stand as notice of an appeal for an oral hearing in respect of the refusal of an application in respect of child benefit, job seeker's allowance and so on by a person (details supplied) in County Kildare who has lived in this country for more than three years and who is an EU citizen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19663/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The applications for child benefit and jobseeker's allowance, by the person concerned, were disallowed by a Deciding Officer of the Department in August 2007 and August 2008 (child benefit), April 2009 and February 2010 (jobseeker's allowance) as she was not habitually resident in the State for Social Welfare purposes. I am informed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there is no trace of appeals against any of those decisions by the person concerned.

In the normal course, an appeal against the decision of a Deciding Officer must be made within 21 days of a decision being notified. Appeals received outside of this time limit may be accepted at the discretion of the Chief Appeals Officer. This limit is not rigidly enforced but in view of the length of time which has elapsed since the person concerned was notified of each of these decisions and in the absence of any explanation for the failure to make the appeals within the prescribed time, it is considered that the acceptance of an appeal would not be warranted at this late stage. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister of Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.