Social Welfare Appeals

Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Questions (418)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

418. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Social Protection for a breakdown, by county, of the number of times persons who were initially refused disability allowance were successful on appealing the decision in each of the past ten years, and to date in 2024. [21679/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Heather Humphreys)

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.

Table 1 below table shows a breakdown by county of the number of disability allowance appeals finalised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office in each of the past ten years and to the end of April 2024. Table 2 shows the number of such appeals that were successful in each of those years by county.

Table 1

												DA Appeals Finalised by County
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	Total
County
Antrim										1		1
Armagh										1		1
Carlow	80	75	92	65	77	76	107	86	78	95	19	850
Cavan	92	62	42	71	72	70	108	77	72	78	15	759
Clare	138	94	98	108	89	96	135	79	106	141	20	1104
Cork	670	716	596	500	647	601	899	599	538	548	110	6424
Donegal	226	172	157	136	143	177	254	155	162	154	50	1786
Down	1											1
Dublin	1537	1265	989	987	991	1121	1510	1141	1145	1119	243	12048
Fermanagh									1			1
Galway	272	266	184	178	181	323	309	228	223	223	61	2448
Kerry	184	218	143	140	167	188	198	209	153	186	36	1822
Kildare	230	164	135	151	124	221	254	197	164	189	52	1881
Kilkenny	76	72	59	73	55	105	123	95	97	86	16	857
Laois	85	77	59	68	84	107	124	82	76	89	25	876
Leitrim	28	36	28	15	35	24	54	38	30	26	5	319
Limerick	385	249	214	217	217	303	324	220	232	231	61	2653
Longford	71	49	46	63	60	83	86	44	66	67	16	651
Louth	176	143	107	212	149	188	228	155	162	166	39	1725
Mayo	153	124	102	68	107	88	198	96	99	159	20	1214
Meath	212	126	97	133	130	133	212	156	146	154	27	1526
Monaghan	60	52	56	48	44	55	83	47	38	34	6	523
Offaly	89	118	72	119	88	106	133	116	87	118	17	1063
Roscommon	67	59	42	56	52	70	83	59	66	57	14	625
Sligo	88	63	60	66	63	68	80	56	46	60	4	654
Tipperary	227	212	134	136	152	194	246	232	197	195	41	1966
Waterford	167	156	104	120	118	133	196	150	160	154	30	1488
Westmeath	101	108	103	106	92	161	149	105	118	119	22	1184
Wexford	192	179	193	123	195	237	298	188	164	206	37	2012
Wicklow	146	73	98	88	67	109	150	123	124	122	24	1124
Total	5753	4928	4010	4047	4199	5037	6541	4733	4550	4778	1010	49586

Table 2

												DA Successful Appeals by County
	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	Total
County
Carlow	56	50	77	58	60	52	69	61	41	46	4	574
Cavan	60	41	22	48	47	44	59	43	35	40	6	445
Clare	98	62	68	81	63	73	85	50	67	79	8	734
Cork	437	468	404	343	477	422	570	348	301	327	43	4140
Donegal	129	113	103	86	98	111	152	91	92	84	24	1083
Down	1											1
Dublin	1123	828	716	699	743	723	902	598	588	604	93	7617
Fermanagh									1			1
Galway	179	159	121	136	135	208	196	140	117	122	20	1533
Kerry	116	167	96	110	118	131	139	118	92	103	18	1208
Kildare	158	123	109	110	82	153	175	116	96	93	22	1237
Kilkenny	52	57	42	55	42	76	77	48	55	45	5	554
Laois	56	52	35	45	47	82	75	48	41	37	8	526
Leitrim	18	27	22	10	30	15	40	29	16	10	2	219
Limerick	282	182	147	163	165	236	235	135	138	139	23	1845
Longford	42	37	34	46	42	57	53	26	34	39	8	418
Louth	119	81	70	167	103	110	124	79	90	90	13	1046
Mayo	102	92	66	51	69	54	128	53	48	83	13	759
Meath	127	90	73	104	100	83	133	84	79	80	12	965
Monaghan	40	37	40	31	30	32	44	25	20	24	2	325
Offaly	59	90	45	84	55	61	79	61	46	71	5	656
Roscommon	45	44	34	42	32	48	58	32	38	34	4	411
Sligo	58	45	33	52	49	49	48	31	22	37	3	427
Tipperary	155	143	92	114	124	131	143	157	116	109	18	1302
Waterford	110	119	75	89	100	100	107	95	84	86	13	978
Westmeath	56	80	69	75	68	92	87	64	61	58	6	716
Wexford	138	129	148	93	156	179	197	98	81	107	11	1337
Wicklow	106	51	70	79	49	81	110	84	71	73	11	785
Total	3922	3367	2811	2971	3084	3403	4085	2714	2470	2620	395	31842

From 2014 to the end of April 2024, a total of 163,320 disability allowance claims were awarded by the Department. The 31,842 successful appeals in this period therefore represents 19.5% of the total number of claims awarded.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.