John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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608. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for the delay in issuing payment including arrears to a person (details supplied) who has been approved for disability allowance; and if the claim will be backdated to the date of their original application. [13061/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Based on the evidence supplied in support of their application for disability allowance (DA), this person’s application was disallowed on the grounds that the medical qualifying condition was not satisfied and for having means in excess of the statutory limit for their circumstances. They were notified in writing of this decision on 22 October 2019.

A review of this decision was carried out on 20 February 2020 and the decision was upheld regarding the medical condition. It was decided that the means condition was satisfied with effect from 20 November 2019.

The person concerned requested an appeal of the decision and submitted additional medical evidence for consideration. The Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) decided, based on this additional evidence, that the medical qualifying condition was satisfied.

DA is a means-tested payment. On 24 February 2021 the person concerned was asked to supply documentation in relation to their means. This information is required by the deciding officer in order to implement the SWAO decision. Once the deciding officer receives this information, the Department will be able to proceed with this decision.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.