Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
2513. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason an application by a person (details supplied) took so long to process; the further reason it was refused; the options available to the person based on circumstances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33554/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from this lady on the 26 April 2017. The application was examined by one of the departments medical assessors and a decision was then made by a deciding officer. The application was not allowed as it was considered that the qualifying conditions for the payment had not been met in this case. This decision along with the reasons for the disallowance of DCA was communicated to her in writing on the 18 September 2017. The right to request a review of the decision and/or to appeal the decision directly to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) was also outlined.
A review of the decision was requested on the 6th October 2017 and an appeal to the SWAO was registered on the 17 October 2017. Notification that a revision of the decision was not considered to be warranted issued to this lady in December 2017 and the case was forwarded to the SWAO in January 2018 for their consideration of the appeal. The SWAO advised her on 3 July 2018.
As the decision, review and appeal process has been completed in this case, this application has been finalised. However, it is open to this lady to re-apply in the future if she feels that circumstances have changed and that her child meets the qualification conditions.
While the outcome would have been the same, the Department regrets that this claim too longer than normal to process, due to the backlog on DCA claim processing experienced over the second half of 2017. I wish to assure the Deputy that this situation has been rectified and that DCA claims are now processed within an average of 10 week.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
