Dan Neville
Question:552 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the average length of time it takes from the submission of an appeal against a decision of his Department to an oral hearing of an appeal. [8984/98]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Appeals.
Almost 13,000 appeals were dealt with by the Social Welfare Appeals Office in 1997. The average time taken to process all of these appeals was 22 weeks.
In some cases appeals can be dealt with on the basis of information supplied by the appellant and the deciding officer without recourse to an oral hearing and these would take less than the average time. Where an oral hearing is required, however, an additional delay is inevitable.
Four additional appeals officers were appointed during the second half of 1997 and this has brought about an improvement in the processing times for appeals so far this year. The provision of a prompt service is a major objective of the Social Welfare Appeals Office. At all times it is necessary to ensure that progress in this regard is achieved in a manner that is consistent with the demands of justice and the requirement that every appeal be fully investigated and examined on all its merits.