Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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281. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of social welfare applications, that are first refused and are subsequently granted on appeal; the average time it takes to process appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21874/25]

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.

Detailed information on the number of claims awarded, rejected and withdrawn across the Department is currently being finalised and will be available in the Annual Report of Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services which is scheduled for release in June of this year.

In 2024, the average time taken to process an appeal was 23.5 weeks. The average processing time at the end of March 2025 is 20.9 weeks. The Annual Report of the Chief Appeals Officer is published each year and shows processing times for each scheme to a detailed level. The reports for years 2020 to 2023 are available on the Social Welfare Appeals Office website (News and Publications from the Social Welfare Appeals Office (www.gov.ie) and sets out the information requested by the Deputy. The report for 2024 is currently being prepared and will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas shortly.

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.