Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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75. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the average length of time taken to determine all social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33637/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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A breakdown by scheme of the average time to award claims during August 2015 (where available) is detailed in the tabular statement below.

Note that the processing times shown in the table incorporate the impact of the appeals process.

Average Time to Award Claims August 2015

* The average time to award state pension non-contributory, disability allowance, carers' allowance and invalidity pension applications at the end of August was 20, 32, 35 and 21 weeks respectively. New applications for state pension non-contributory are currently decided upon inside 14.5 weeks, disability allowance are currently decided upon inside 9.7 weeks, carer’s allowance are currently decided upon inside 16.5 weeks on average and invalidity pension claims are currently decided upon within 3.8 weeks of receipt. The overall average processing times reflect appeals in the system.