Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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478.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when the backlog of social welfare appeals, which are pending while the Social Welfare Appeals Office assesses the impact of the ruling of the CJEU (details supplied) will be addressed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25348/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions.

Decisions on appeals, or reviews of appeal decisions, where the grounds of appeal were based on the High Court Judgment in Voican v the Chief Appeals Officer [2020] IEHC 258 were not made pending the outcome of the appeal of the Judgment by the State to the Court of Appeal.

Consequent to the referral by the Court of Appeal, the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in C-488/21 Voican v Chief Appeals Officer was delivered on 21 December 2023. The final order of the Court of Appeal in the matter was subsequently received on 19 January 2024. The related court proceedings following the Voican v the Chief Appeals Officer case are being settled.

The Chief Appeals Officer is now in a position to progress pending appeals. In advance of the consideration of the appeals, relevant appellants are being provided with the details of the Judgment and are being invited to make any submissions they feel are relevant to further their appeals. An Appeals Officer will then proceed to consider the appeal and the relevant evidence provided.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.