Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for child benefit; the number of applicants currently waiting for their child benefit application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5229/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Applications for Child Benefit may be processed under domestic legislation or EU legislation. There is no backlog in Child Benefit claim processing. The average processing time for claims made under domestic legislation is three weeks. At the end of December 2012, a total of 2,276 such claims were pending, of which 510 were awaiting further information from the customer. Claims processed under EU regulations are processed within six months on average. This is due to the need for correspondence with other EU counties, which can be slow. At the end of December 2012, a total of 2,033 EU claims were pending, of which 1,595 were awaiting further information from the customer or the other Member State institution.