Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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390. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which social welfare in-person appeals are available since their suspension during the Covid-19 pandemic; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6566/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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 am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that due to the public health restrictions arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person hearings were suspended from March 2020, were carried out from August to September 2020, and recommenced in February 2022.

Oral hearings have been successfully conducted online or by telephone since October 2020 and these types of hearings will continue. This remote hearing approach has proven to be an effective way of facilitating oral hearings which were previously achieved through an in-person engagement.

Since 2020 Appeals Officers have made greater use of telephone contact and correspondence to gather additional information or seek clarification which might otherwise have been ascertained in the course of an oral hearing. This has reduced the need to conduct oral hearings.

I am satisfied that the use of online and telephone based oral hearings and the use of a greater level of contact by phone or written correspondence was beneficial in enabling appeals to proceed during a period of significant public health restrictions.

The present position in relation to in-person oral hearings is that, subject to prevailing public health advice, an in-person oral hearing may be convened where the Chief Appeals Officer is of the view that such a hearing is essential in any particular case.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.