asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will take action to have unemployment benefit claims processed more expeditiously; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment Benefit.
14.
The majority of claims to unemployment benefit are decided without any delay at employment exchanges of the Department and only cases of a difficult nature are referred to headquarters for determination.
Cases are dealt with quickly at headquarters and are normally returned to the exchanges within a week. Cases can arise, however, where protracted inquiries are necessary which entail reference back to the claimant or special investigations being made and these take longer to deal with.
The question of reducing the number of cases which have to be referred to Dublin has been under examination and I am hopeful that it will be possible to go some further way in this direction within the next few months and thus effect a reduction in the time taken to deal with cases.