Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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657. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of an appeal for an invalidity pension in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41550/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, decided to disallow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision on 26 January 2021.

A decision of an Appeals Officer is generally final apart from in some limited circumstances. Social welfare legislation allows an Appeals Officer to revise his or her decision where it appears to him or her that the decision was erroneous in the light of new evidence or new facts which have been subsequently brought to his or her notice.

I am advised that the person concerned subsequently submitted additional evidence and that the Appeals Officer reviewed the appeal on foot of this additional evidence. The Appeals Officer did not find any new facts or evidence which warranted a revision of her earlier decision. The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision on 19 August 2021.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.