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THE AVERAGE WAITING time for an initial decision in a social welfare appeal is 27.8 weeks – about seven months.
It’s usually several more weeks or months before oral hearings take place.
The longest waiting period for a summary decision is for appeals relating to Occupational Injury Benefit (Medical): 78.7 weeks or close to 20 months.
Summary decisions related to the Pre-Retirement Allowance usually don’t happen for almost 14 months (54.6 weeks). The waiting time in terms of child benefit decisions is almost a year (47.1 weeks).
People appealing decisions related to Jobseeker’s Allowance have to wait an average of six months (24.4 weeks) for an initial decision, while those waiting to hear back about a Respite Care Grant appeal usually won’t have a summary decision for seven months (28.5 weeks).
Tánaiste Joan Burton revealed the figures in the Dáil recently, in response to a parliamentary question asked by Bernard Durkan.
Burton said appeal processing times peaked in 2011 when the average time for an oral hearing was 52.5 weeks and 25.1 weeks for a summary decision. In 2012 the average processing time for an oral hearing dropped to 39.5 weeks and the time for a summary decision increased slightly to 27.8 weeks.
Last year the average appeal processing time reduced to 33.9 weeks for an oral hearing and 25.8 weeks for a summary decision. As of 30 November 2014, the average time taken to process an appeal requiring an oral hearing was 28.7 weeks and for a summary decision was 21.4 weeks.
The below tables give a breakdown of how long people have to wait, on average, for decisions in social welfare appeals.
Source: Oireachtas.ie
Appeal processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation.
They include all activities during this period including:
Burton noted that while this process “carries an inherent delay in terms of finalising an appeal, it also crystalises the flexibility and accessibility of the appeals system”.
By its nature and because it is a quasi-judicial function, the processing of appeals takes time and reflects the fact that, by definition, the appeal process cannot be a quick one.
Burton said “a rapid and sustained increase in the number of appeals received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2009″ has placed “extraordinary pressure” on the office.
Progress
Up to 2009, the average number of appeals received was 15,000 per year. In 2012, the number of appeals received peaked at 35,484, reducing to 32,777 appeals in 2013.
The Tánaiste said that 41 people currently work in the appeals office, noting that additional employees have been hired to “manage this increasing workload”.
In addition to the improvement in processing times, these measures have also led to a significant increase in the annual number of appeals finalised in the appeals office from 17,787 in 2009 to 38,421 in 2013. An additional 5,863 appeals were finalised in 2013 compared to 2012.
“Good progress has also been made in reducing the number of appeals on hand from 20,414 at 1 January 2013 to 9,769 at 1 December 2014,” Burton added.
As of 31 October 2014, 3,717,582 people were in receipt of social welfare payments and a further 59,252 payments were pending approval. Some 3,644,871 people were receiving payments at the same time last year, while 68,000 claims were awaiting approval.
More than 1.6 million claims were registered from November 2013 to October 2014.
The most commonly paid claim in 2014 was Free Travel (809,155 recipients); followed by Child Benefit (613,284) and Household Benefits (413,019). Some 265,705 people received Jobseeker’s Allowance this year, down from 286,667 in 2013.
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Cool. Fair play to her. Hope she enjoys her year doing whatever mayors do.
Nothing and just watch the money roll in
Pity about the Party she chose.
lies what about that baby mayor in naas
can you say “in these struggling times”? I feel like I am unlearning all my English
Lol! You’re right… It should be “…in these times of struggle.”
Hmmm, I have to second that sentiment voiced earlier- green party? *shudder*
Me fail english? That’s unpossible!
Good Luck to her!
what an achievement and couldn’t have happened to a more bright and lovely girl
Parks & Recreation anyone?
Yes that was the first thing I thought of when I read the headline!
Shows how downhill things are going when children are elected.
Why shouldn’t young people be elected??? We are the future of this country!!
And how are the adults thus far. Hope this is the start of a trend, too many oldies with a set way of thinking!!
Yep,the older crowd are doing a great job aren’t they?…… Give the younger generation a chance to try dig us out of the shit the older generation have dug us into I say!
Heard her on Colm Hayes this morning. She was very impressive!!
Some posters on here…uggghhhhhhh!!!! :(
Congratulations Mayor Lonergan!
All well and good – but the Green Party??????? C’mon
I see grammar isn’t a requirement of the job!
Paul, I agree.
Unfortunately the standard of spoken english continues to drop.
My 15 and 13 yr old children tell me of their ENGLISH teachers who say things like ‘she done that’, ‘he was sat there’, and ‘I could have went’ as three examples.
‘Done that’ and ‘I seen that’ makes me want to blow a gasket!
@ Paul,
I think it’s “I see grammar isn’t a requirement for the job”! ;)
Many of our politicians are teachers and where has that got us thus far??, its well known that a genius usually can’t spell, grammar won’t save the country from going down the tubes, leadership and innovation is what is needed
Agreed Paul and Johnny. When teachers teaching English begin their lessons with such statements as ” Now here’s deh ting, deh correct pronunciation is dat dat ting over dere, is not deh same as dat ting over dere, then I will regain hope.
To follow up on this (as we detract even further from the article).
I´ve always had a doubt on the ´I´m just after seeing/doing (something)´. A purely Hiberno-English construct?
It´s how we were thought, but seldom heard aside from Irish speakers of English.
Oh, and yeah, fair play to her.
It´s how we were “taught ” … that should be. This is what happens when you don´t use your native language in work anymore. :o
@Johnny Thunder… Their “ENGLISH teachers”? I think you mean their teachers of english ;)
She’d have right Craic down the pub with her big hold chain
The best of good luck Darcy, you are a credit. Keep up the good work and ignore the begrudgers, hope that is spelt correctly.
town mayor
Fair play to her
and the award for the most ”ridiculously stereotypical Hollywood Irish name” goes to………
Come on don’t leave us in suspense! Who?
why not have some infant in a position like mayor? its a banana republic anyways. let her off. carrick is a hole anyways. interesting to read her views on migrants, as not that long ago they had the place terrorized with fighting and generally acting the bolix. good luck with that love. good point made about the so called adults running politics. good luck to her. I seen the ladies of her, I tawt she was lovely an all.
You seem like an upbeat kind of person! Good for you.
How much does a mayor get paid?
Depends on the town. Probably no more than a regular town councillor, which is a couple of grand per year.
Caoimhe Sloan is to be elected mayor of Navan next week and she’s 21.
Nice to see Irish people are taking part in some thing meaniful … rather then just Fashion and useless media shite…..!!! GOOD LUCK to her in her career…
Well done Darcy, dont mind the begrudgers, its time we had some new, young blood in politics, its the old boys in suits toeing the party line that got us into the mess we’re in. Best of luck to you in all your future endeavours!
Ahhh begrudgery , thy name is Ireland
It;s excellent to see an intelligent young woman like Darcy elected. So refreshing from the average male, pale and stale councillor. We need more like her in local politics.
Go away with your sexism.
This is the 21st century.
I thought that it had to be a city that had an elected mayor , not a town.
Nice to see Young Irish people are taking part in some thing meaniful … rather then just Fashion and useless media shite…..!!! GOOD LUCK to her in her career…also best of luck in kicking old greedy narrrow minded people out..!
yeah, you CAN make a difference!!! woohoo!
Just to put on record, I am the Ireland’s youngest ever Mayor when I was elected Mayor of Youghal last year at the age of 22. Might only be few months in it but I was still younger than Darcy when she was elected. Anyway, best of luck to her
Is she also the only non democratically elected mayor in Ireland? Ms Lonergan was co-opted onto the council when the previous two “Greens” jacked in their seats. She has never been elected by the people. The original seat was won via local election. This person packed it in when something better came along. The seat then went to his sister. She too had bigger fish to fry, resigned and so Ms Lonergan took the seat. Young and female is just great. It’s the lack of public say in the matter that curdles my blood. Nepotism, thy name is local Irish politics!!
Shaking hands and kissing babies.
You don’t need to be genius to be mayor.
Just smiley and know what to say.
More Parks,
More Guards,
More Cleaning,
More Money,
More Jobs.
Vote for Me!!
*What’s the bets she gives up on her righteous cause to sit on they money train?
€2000
Odds are 1/9999.
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