Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 294: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average and longest waiting times for appeals against refusals of domiciliary care allowance; and if she will arrange for the recruitment of additional staff in order to address the backlog of appeals. [30637/12]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 295: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average and longest waiting times for appeals against refusals of carer's allowance; and if she will arrange for the recruitment of additional staff in order to address the backlog of appeals. [30638/12]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 296: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average and longest waiting times for appeals against refusals of the one parent family payment; and if she will arrange for the recruitment of additional staff in order to address the backlog of appeals [30639/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 294, 295 and 296 together.

The figures requested by the Deputy are provided in the following table. Generally the vast majority of cases fall within average times but extenuating factors, often outside of the control of the Social Welfare Appeals Office, will cause greater delays in some cases.

These processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation. They include all activities during this period including time spent in the Department for comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal put forward by the appellant, and any further investigation, examination or assessment by the Department's Inspectors and Medical Assessors that is deemed necessary. A considerable period of time is added to the process when an oral hearing is required because of the logistics involved in this process. By its nature and because it is a quasi-judicial nature, the processing of appeals takes time even at the best of times and reflects the fact that, by definition, the appeal process cannot be a quick one.

In an effort to reduce the processing times, the Department appointed 12 additional Appeals Officers since between 2010 and 2011. In addition, a further 10 Appeals Officers, formerly employed by the Community Welfare Service (CWS) of the Health Services Executive joined the Office as part of the integration of the CWS appeals services into the Social Welfare Appeals Office. This brought the total number of Appeals Officers to 39. In addition to this, the Office has improved its business processes and IT support.

I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that she is keeping the methods of operation by which the Social Welfare Appeals Office conducts its business under constant review, and that the processes are continuously being enhanced to reduce the backlogs in the Office and, overall, to reduce the processing times for dealing with appeals.