Social Welfare Benefits

Tuesday, 18 April 2023

Questions (864)

Mairéad Farrell

Question:

864. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Social Protection the waiting times for the processing of applications for disability allowance; the number of applications waiting at present, per county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16094/23]

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Written answers

Minister for Social Protection

Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance for people with a disability aged between 16 and 66 with a disability expected to last for at least one year and who satisfy the medical condition, means test and are habitually resident in Ireland.

My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.

The processing target for the Disability Allowance (DA) scheme is to award 75% of applications within 10 weeks. The average number of weeks to award a DA claim in February 2023 was 10 weeks. My Department understands the many pressures faced by people and always seeks to ensure that claims are processed quickly and efficiently.

I can confirm that the current number of applications awaiting decisions are 5,397. The table below lists the number of applications per county.

County	Total
CARLOW	109
CAVAN	82
CLARE	146
CORK	564
DONEGAL	210
DUBLIN	1291
GALWAY	266
KERRY	256
KILDARE	222
KILKENNY	82
LAOIS	102
LEITRIM	42
LIMERICK	256
LONGFORD	73
LOUTH	178
MAYO	134
MEATH	182
MONAGHAN	43
OFFALY	129
ROSCOMMON	69
SLIGO	87
TIPPERARY	226
WATERFORD	159
WESTMEATH	149
WEXFORD	199
WICKLOW	141
Total	5,397

Claim processing is kept under active review, with all possible steps taken to improve processing times. This includes the assignment of additional resources, where available, and the review of business processes, to ensure the efficient processing of applications.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.