Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 263: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be approved and awarded child benefit. [34357/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that a Child Benefit appeal by the person concerned was registered in that Office on 1 March 2010. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received back in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 3 July 2010 and the appeal will be referred in due course to an Appeals Officer who will decide whether the case can be decided on a summary basis or whether to list it for oral hearing.

There was a 46% increase in the number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office in 2009 when compared to 2008, which in itself was 27% greater than the numbers received in 2007. There was an increase of a further 44% in the number of appeals received in the first eight months of 2010. These increases have caused delays in the processing of appeals. In order to be fair to all appellants, oral hearings are arranged in strict chronological order.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.