Pat the Cope Gallagher T.D. has called on Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar to speed up the application process for Carers Allowance and Carers Benefit.
He said it is becoming clear that unnecessary delays are occurring with the processing of Carers payments, with some applications experiencing 18 to 20 week delays before their application are being dealt with by the department.
He complimented the staff in the Department of Social Protection that are dealing with the current backlog of payments but it is clear they are working in a difficult circumstance as they are under staffed and under resourced.
“It is clear that the Minister must redeploy staff to deal with this current backlog in an effort to process applications promptly and in a time acceptable fashion.
“The delays are causing unnecessary hardships and stress to many families who are caring on a full time basis for their family members and loved ones.
“The Carers by way of their work are saving the state billions of Euros each year by caring for their family members at home without state intervention, the very least we can do as a state is treat them with respect by dealing with their social protection applications in a timely manner.
“It cannot be accepted that it takes 18 to 20 weeks to process an application in order to get payments to the families of these carers,” said Pat the Cope Gallagher.
He called on the Minister for Social Protection to personally intervene on this matter and to increase the staff numbers who are currently working within this section, in order to clear the backlog of applications as a priority.
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