Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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263. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average time to process an application for carer's allowance, disability allowance, one-parent family allowance and invalidity pension; the average waiting time for a person who wishes to appeal a refusal of each of the above; the steps he proposes to take to shorten these waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16468/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The average time in weeks to process applications and appeals for the specified schemes for the period 1 January - 28 February 2025 are set out below. The waiting times for appeals measure the time from when the appeal was registered to the latest decision on the appeal, or when the appeal was withdrawn by the appellant. This can include revised decisions. Such revisions can lengthen the processing time for the appeal.

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 and, in some cases to seek further information by way of correspondence or oral hearing. 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 decisions on appeals. In addition new Appeals Regulations have been signed to come into effect from April this year which provide, among other things, for simpler processes and specified response times. These should further help to reduce processing times.I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.