Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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146. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to outline his plans to introduce a targeted child benefit payment during the lifetime of this Government; the work his Department has carried out on developing such a payment to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21716/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Child Benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their nineteenth birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Expenditure on the scheme is estimated at over €2.2 billion in 2025.

It is important to note that, in addition to Child Benefit, families on low incomes may be able to avail of other social welfare payments:

• the Child Support Payment with primary social welfare payments;
• the Working Family Payment for low-paid employees with children; and
• the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.

Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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147. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason the processing of applications in the case of a person (details supplied), and others, for disability allowances is taking so long; and the reason the appeals process is taking so long. [21605/25]

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.

I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an appeal for the above motioned was received and registered in that office on 11th December 2024 and in accordance with the statutory requirements the relevant Departmental papers and the comments of the Deciding Officer on the matters raised in the appeal were sought.

An Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, has decided to disallow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision. The person concerned has been notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision.

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. In addition new Appeals Regulations have been signed to come into effect from the 28 April which provide, among other things, for simpler processes and specified response times. These should further help to reduce processing times.

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, including in some cases requesting further information either via correspondence or via 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.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.