Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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208. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the current timeline for social welfare appeals, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8550/25]

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 table below shows a breakdown of average processing times for the period 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024 on a number of departmental schemes. In 2024 the average time taken to process an appeal was 23.5 weeks.

The time taken to process appeals reflects the need to consider each appeal in detail and, in many cases, 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.

The Chief Appeals Officer has put in place measures to deal with the increase in appeals received during 2024. 20 additional staff  were assigned and attended training during December 2024 and January 2025. They have now been appointed as Appeals Officers and are making appeal decisions.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.