Written Answers Nos. 271-279
271. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the average processing times for appeals made under section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7346/24]
View answerThe 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 Social Welfare Appeals system is underpinned by legislation which sets down the roles, powers and functions of the Social Welfare Appeals Office and its Appeals Officers. Under the legislation, the decision of an Appeals Officer is final and conclusive and may be reviewed under Section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 by an Appeals Officer in the light of new evidence or new facts.
If there is any new evidence or new facts pertinent to a case that were not brought to the attention of the Appeals Officer during the determination of an appeal, they may be submitted to the Appeals office for further consideration.
The average processing time for appeals decided under Section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 during the period 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023 was 10.6 weeks.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
272. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the average processing times for appeals made under section 318 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7347/24]
View answerThe 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 Social Welfare Appeals system is underpinned by legislation which sets down the roles, powers and functions of the Social Welfare Appeals Office and its Appeals Officers.
The Chief Appeals Officer has power under Section 318 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 to revise any decision where it appears to her that the Appeals Officer’s decision was erroneous by reason of some mistake having been made in relation to the law or the facts.
The average processing time for appeals decided under Section 318 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 during the period 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023 was 10.4 weeks. I am informed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that some requests for review under section 318 may take significantly longer to finalise due to the complexity of the case and the contentions raised.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
273. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection if maternity benefit might issue in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7359/24]
View answerMaternity Benefit is a payment made for up to 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women who are on maternity leave from work and who satisfy certain qualifying conditions including social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions on their own insurance record.
To qualify for Maternity Benefit, a woman must be in insurable employment that is covered by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994, immediately before the first day of maternity leave and she must meet certain PRSI contribution conditions listed in the governing legislation.
Claimants who are not EU/EEA citizens are required to have a GNIB/Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card and a work permit, if necessary, to legally work in Ireland. Any employment performed without the required permissions to be employed in Ireland is not considered valid insurable employment and is not reckonable for PRSI purposes. Any PRSI stamps accrued during this period are not valid for social welfare purposes.
In this case, the person concerned applied for Maternity Benefit on 24 December 2021. Confirmation of permission to work in Ireland was requested from the person concerned on 26 January 2022, 20 September 2022 and 10 October 2022. To date, this has not been provided.
Should the person concerned provide the requested information, a deciding officer will review the decision on her claim.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
274. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection when child benefit will be paid in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7360/24]
View answerChild Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16 and 17, if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves.
No Child Benefit claim has been received from the person concerned. An application for Child Benefit can be made by submitting a completed application. Claim forms are available on gov.ie or from any local Department office.
I hope that this clarifies the matter for the deputy.
275. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection when a person (details supplied) might qualify for State pension contributory or non-contributory; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7361/24]
View answerState pension contributory entitlement depends on factors such as a person’s social insurance record, their attachment to the workforce and their countries of employment. To date, the person concerned has not made an application for a state pension contributory. It is open to the person to do so and on receipt of the application, their eligibility, if any, to this payment can be examined.
State pension non-contributory is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, who have a legal right of residence and habitually reside in the State, and who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or only qualify for a reduced-rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record.
The representations from the Deputy are accepted as a request for a review of the person's state pension non-contributory application, which was disallowed. A Deciding Officer will write to the person requesting additional information which is necessary to examine their pension entitlement. On receipt of the requested documentation, the Deciding Officer will review the person's eligibility for state pension non-contributory and the person will be notified of the outcome in writing.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
276. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection when the non-contributory pension might be made payable in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7371/24]
View answerState pension (non-contributory) is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, who have a legal right of residence and habitually reside in the state, and who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or only qualify for a reduced-rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record.
Following previous representations from the Deputy in this matter, on 19 June 2023, a Deciding Officer wrote to the person concerned, setting out the evidential requirements to assess their satisfaction of the habitual residency condition, in order to determine their eligibility for a state pension non-contributory. To date, no reply has been received. Should the person be in a position to provide a verified record of at least five years continuous residency in the State, it is open to them to submit this evidence to the Department in order for their eligibility for state pension non-contributory to be considered.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
277. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection if disability allowance or benefit is payable to a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7372/24]
View answerDisability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions.
Eligibility for DA is conditional on satisfying the medical criteria, a means test and being habitual residence in the state. A person applying for DA may be disallowed on one or more of these conditions.
Invalidity pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions.
To qualify for IP a claimant must, inter-alia, have at least 260 (5 years) paid PRSI contributions since entering social insurance and 48 contributions paid or credited in the last or second last complete contribution year before the relevant date of their claim. Only PRSI classes A, E, H or S contributions are reckonable for IP purposes.
A completed DA or IP application form must be submitted to the Department in order to establish if the person concerned has an entitlement.
An application form for both DA and IP was posted to the person concerned on 12 February 2024.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
278. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice further to her own remarks on the matter (details supplied), what opt in procedure the Government will adopt with respect to the New Pact on Migration and Asylum of the EU; and, in particular, whether the opt in will be exercised under article 3 or article 4 of Protocol 21 annexed to the Treaty of Lisbon. [7154/24]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the overall objectives of the Asylum and Migration Pact include creating a fair, sustainable and efficient asylum procedures in ordinary times as well as in times of migratory pressure and crisis situations, ensuring a fair sharing of responsibility, developing robust management of external borders and providing stronger governance of asylum and migration policies.
The challenges presented by irregular migration cannot be effectively addressed by any state acting alone in an increasingly globalised and interdependent world. Recognising this, the Member States of the EU have now reached a political agreement with the Parliament and the Commission on all of the measures proposed for a new Asylum and Migration Pact, which will pave the way for the adoption of these measures in the coming months. This represents an important further evolution of the Common European Asylum Policy.
In relation to Ireland’s opt-in, under Article 3 of Protocol 21 attached to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the State can choose to opt-in to a measure in the area of asylum and migration within three months of publication by the European Commission. This timeframe starts from the date the last language version of the measure is published. In the case of the Pact measures, the three month timeframe for opting-in under Article 3 expired in January and February 2021 for those measures published in 2020. With regards to the measures published in 2016 the three month time frame expired in 2016.
Alternatively, the State can opt-in to these measures at any time after they have been adopted under Article 4 of Protocol 21. As the State did not opt-in to any of the Pact measures under Article 3, Ireland is now entitled to opt-in under Article 4 once the measures have been formally adopted. This is expected to occur in the near future. No time limit applies in respect of an opt-in under Article 4.
While Ireland has not yet opted-into most of the Pact measures, with the exception of the European Union Asylum Agency Regulation, other Member States will be bound by them two years after they are adopted. Member States are beginning to prepare their transposing legislation and operational systems for the Pact to go live in 2026. In order for Ireland to effectively align its law and systems with other Member State, and to implement a more cohesive migration system provided by the Pact, I intend to bring a Memorandum to cabinet concerning an opt in to the Pact under Article 4.
279. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Justice to confirm the current status of a person's (detail supplied) application for citizenship; when a decision is likely to be reached, in view of the fact that the application was submitted over two years ago; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7167/24]
View answerA request for further documentation was made to the person concerned on 9 February 2024. Once the Citizenship Division of my Department has received these documents processing of the application can resume.
I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants and my Department has been working hard to clear backlogs.
It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay. However, the nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process. In some instances, completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time.
My Department is taking a number of steps to speed up the processing of applications and a number of digitisation measures have been introduced to increase efficiency in the process, including eVetting and online payments.
My Department has recently moved from paper to online based citizenship applications. This is one of a number of measures introduced in an effort to optimise the application process and enhance the overall customer service experience. As part of the new online process, customers are issued with an acknowledgment on submission of the online application. The forms provide a seamless application process and help guide applicants through what is required for an application.
Finally, I can advise the Deputy that the Citizenship Division of my Department continues to communicate regularly with all applicants to keep them informed as to updates on processing times and arrangements.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: IMoireachtasmail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Question process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
