Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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46. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if measures are being put in place to reduce long waiting times for applications to be processed. [38820/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Applications for Treatment Benefit are now routinely submitted on-line via the department's WelfarePartners portal, with 97% of cases received via this channel to date in 2019. Applications received in this manner are processed immediately, in real time, and as a result there is no delay in processing applications.

The small and reducing number of dental and optical benefit applications submitted on paper forms are processed using scanning and automation in so far as is possible and this is normally done within 2 days of receipt. Those applications which do require clerical intervention are routinely processed within 1-2 weeks of receipt.

I hope this clarifies this matter for the Deputy.