Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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65. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the way in which the reduction in the live register can contribute to expediting the process for various social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33627/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible and that backlogs in claims are kept to a minimum. Each scheme area is continuously monitored and reviewed to ensure customers are responded to as quickly as possible. Processing times vary by scheme. This principally reflects the fact that the legal eligibility conditions - such as means tests, family circumstances and medical status - are more complex for some schemes than for others. The reduction in the live register assists the Department’s capacity to process claims but it should be noted that the churn of people coming on and off the register is substantial and requires administrative intervention. For example, the decrease of 4,552 people on the live register at the end of August 2015 was made up of 22,491 people who came onto the register and 27,043 who left.

The staffing needs of the Department are regularly reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources.