Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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198. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average waiting time for an appeal for invalidity pension currently in the State; the average time for same in each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8408/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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. 

The following table is a breakdown of the average processing times for Invalidity Pension appeals in the past three years.

The time taken to process appeals reflects the need to consider each decision in detail and, in many cases, to examine additional information submitted at appeal stage. The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor processing times and every effort is made to reduce the time taken to process an appeal.  However, the drive for efficiency must be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent and made in accordance with the provisions set out in primary legislation and regulations.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.