Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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137. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason the papers regarding an invalidity pension appeal in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo that was lodged on the 17 of October 2012 have yet to be forwarded to the social welfare appeals office in Dublin; when this matter will be dealt with; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54723/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Invalidity pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the contribution conditions.

This department received a claim for IP for the person concerned on 25 September 2012.

His application for IP was disallowed by a deciding officer (DO) on the ground that the person concerned was deemed to be engaged in employment (farming). The person concerned was notified of the decision to refuse their invalidity pension application on 27 September 2012 and he appealed the decision.

As is normal procedure in the case of appeals, the file was reviewed by a DO in order to confirm or revise the decision. The deciding officer sent the file to a social welfare inspector (SWI) for investigation. Following receipt of the completed report from the SWI, the deciding officer was satisfied that the person concerned was not in employment. The next step should have been to establish whether the person in question was medically eligible for IP. However due to an unfortunate oversight the papers were filed away in error and not referred for a medical assessment. The Department wishes to apologise to the person in question for this error which led to the claim not being assessed in a timely and correct way.

In order to establish medical suitability a diagnostic report has now issued to the customer concerned to be completed by his general practitioner or other treating physician. On receipt of the completed report (and supporting evidence, if applicable) medical suitability will be determined as a matter of urgency and the person concerned will be notified of the decision by a deciding officer.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 to 146, inclusive, together.

The process to sell the Bord Gáis Energy business initiated earlier this year attracted significant interest from a broad range of potential international bidders, reflecting the positive international sentiment towards Ireland. The sale is a very positive development in that it will mark the entry of international strategic investors into the all island energy market. I do not envisage that the sale will have any impact on the Shannon LNG business.

Decisions on the regulatory treatment of the gas interconnectors and tariffing are matters for the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) under the Gas (Interim ) (Regulation) Act 2002. Accordingly, policy in relation to tariff setting has been settled since 2002 when the Oireachtas conferred responsibility for tariff setting, under the 2002 Act, on the CER. The CER as the independent energy regulator has a remit to protect energy consumers, ensure security of supply and support competitiveness. The CER also has a duty to ensure that new sources of gas for the Irish market do not result in unwarranted increases in the price of gas to business and domestic consumers.

The rationale for the CER’s decision of 29 June 2012 as regards pricing and treatment of the interconnectors is that if the current regime were to persist, and with new sources of gas such as Corrib gas and Shannon LNG, the price of gas would rise significantly for all Irish consumers, regardless of the source of the supply. Given our high dependence on gas for electricity generation this would also give rise to electricity price increases and would negatively impact on Ireland’s competitiveness. Full details of the CER’s rationale for its decision are to be found in the CER Decision Paper of 29 June 2012 (CER/12/087) available from the CER website at

The independence of the CER in its decision making is expressly provided for in EU legislation as transposed into Irish law. As regards the issue of a policy direction by me as Minister, Section 10A of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999, as amended, does provide that I may give “general policy directions ” from time to time. However, I am expressly precluded from giving any policy direction in respect of any individual undertakings or persons. Taking account of binding EU legislation as transposed into Irish law in regard to the independence of regulators and the assignment of gas regulatory functions to the CER, including tariffing, I am of the view that Section 10A of the 1999 Act does not provide an adequate legal basis for a direction sought by and for the benefit of an individual entity.