Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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288. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the length of time it is taking to process disability allowance applications; and the number of applications waiting to be processed. [10995/19]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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My Department is committed to making decisions on entitlement as quickly as possible.  

In general, social welfare schemes with a number of complex qualifying conditions can take longer to process.  Before a decision can be made on entitlement to disability allowance (DA), evidence must be provided in respect of the person’s medical condition, the extent to which it restricts them from taking up employment, their means and their habitual residency. 

In January 2019, the average waiting time for new DA applications was 14 weeks and the number of applications waiting to be processed was 5,374. Work is on-going to improve these times and reduce the claims on hand.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.