243 Mr. Morley asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he has satisfied himself with the length of time it takes to process applications for disability allowances since the administration of the scheme transferred from the health boards to his Department; and his views on what would be a reasonable time to process such applications. [19117/96]

Responsibility for the administration of the disability allowance scheme was transferred to my Department on 2 October 1996. I expect that, when the initial backlog of claims has been cleared and a normal claiming pattern has been established, claims will be cleared more quickly than was possible previously. It is the intention that the bulk of disability assistance claims will be processed within four to six weeks of receipt. Every case must be examined on its merits and medical assessments and means investigations are required before decisions on entitlement can be made.