Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 124: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will allocate temporary staff to process carer's allowance applications, which are at present taking on average six months to process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36716/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The average time to award a carer's allowance claim is approximately 14 weeks and there are currently just under 8,000 new applications awaiting decision. The processing of new applications is a priority. All options to assist in the reduction of backlogs are under constant review by the scheme management and senior management within the Department.