I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Prior to and during, the general election, I included a number of issues regarding disability in our party's manifesto. I was very clear in putting in to the programme for Government the need to increase the DCA. The previous Government increased it by €20 per month. It is a very important allowance and it helps the families of those with disabilities with the cost of disability. The medical card, in particular, can be of great assistance. In the programme for Government, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents all agreed on the priority that should be attached to disability. I have also made it a red line issue that there should be a national school therapy service, beginning in special schools. It used to exist prior to the CDNT policy change in 2013. At that time, all special schools had their own therapists but the system changed. Very good progress has been made by the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, in respect of that area. We will have that in place in the next school year, or at least the first phase of it. That is important. So far, the work that was done by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to recruit therapists has worked well. The NCSE will provide an advisory service to education. It was interesting that the recruitment was quite positive because there had been doubts about it. On the DCA, the numbers have grown, which is positive, as I see it. Some 10,500 applied in 2022 and this figure rose to 13,270 in 2024. This is an 8% year-on-year increase and, therefore, there will be an increase in the number of appeals. There is a point to be made whether early on in that process work could be done to identify cases that might not necessarily have to go to appeal. In other words, can there be a better early screening of applications to reduce the necessity for appeals? That can be looked at. Twenty additional staff were assigned and attended training during 2024 up to January 2025. New appeals' regulations came into effect from April of this year. They provide, among other things, for simpler processes and specified response times. We hope that this will help to reduce the processing times. A new IT system has been introduced in the social welfare appeals office. It provides online capabilities to provide a more efficient and streamlined service for people availing of services. At the end of 2024, a new update provided functionality on mywelfare.ie for making appeals. That is improving the customer experience by offering an additional online channel which facilitates 24-7 access to view the current status of appeals. The chief appeals officer wants consistency but accepts that there needs to be greater turnaround, and in fact there has been an improvement. At the moment, there are about 560 appeals on hand. A month ago, in mid-May there were 1,300 appeals on hand. That is a very substantial reduction. Some 460 of the current 560 relate to appeals for April, May or June of 2025, so that is a very short time.
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I accept that up to a point, but of course if we compare the most recent census to the previous one, we see that the number of people, including children, identifying with a disability is increasing exponentially. This can be seen from both censuses. The DCA was originally introduced for severe impacts on children, resulting from disabilities. I expect the numbers to continue to increase. There is an appeals system in every payment from the Department of Social Protection. What is important is efficiency and a timely approach. There is a focus on this within the Department. We can see the numbers coming down. They have come down from 1,300 to 560, and of the 560, some 460 relate to appeals for April, May and June of this year - essentially the last three months. The issue is whether we can make decisions more quickly for the applicants.
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Perhaps we could also then fine-tune the application process to reduce the necessity for appeals.
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Could I just welcome-----
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-----a special guest, Aaron O'Shea, who is here with us.
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I welcome Aaron. I meant to do it at the beginning. He is aged 14 and from County Clare. He is here with his parents Fidelma and Martin O'Shea as part of the Make-A-Wish Ireland. He met the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, earlier. I wish him a very warm welcome.
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