I want to talk to the Taoiseach about the management of the social welfare budget and the policy approaches and unacceptable delays which are adding significant burdens to families, particularly those with children. The delays in processing applications for many social welfare payments, including carer's allowance, disability allowance and invalidity pensions, are unacceptable. Initial applications can take up to nine months, with appeals taking a further six to nine months to process. Yesterday, I was informed that it can take three months for an appeal to get from the Department to the appeals office. Why does it take three months for an appeal to transfer from the relevant section to the appeals office?

Increasingly, applicants are receiving letters stating that, due to the large increase in the number of appeals, some time will elapse before an appeals officer will be in a position to consider their case. In the case of the carer's allowance, the person being cared for can be dead and buried before the family receives any relief.

Such cases have occurred.

Deputies are experiencing these types of cases daily.

These delays constitute a cynical attempt to save money. A report by the free legal advice centres has identified that one in five decisions is being overturned in the appeals process. If better decisions were made in the first place, families would not be burdened with inordinate delays.

A significant assault on single parent families is emanating from the Department of Social Protection. This month alone, 2,500 lone parents will be moved from the one parent family payment to jobseeker's allowance. The difference in the earnings disregard in the two payments will result in a reduction in income of €50 per week for the families in question. Families in these circumstances should not lose €50 or more per week as a result of the reduction in the earning disregard from €110 in respect of the one parent family payment to €60 in respect of jobseeker's allowance. This reduction is in addition to cuts that have been made to the payment. Moreover, 8,000 people will be moved off the one parent family payment because of decisions taken in the previous budget in respect of the age of the youngest child.

The Deputy should ask a question.

Will the Taoiseach reverse the assault on the incomes of lone parents and take steps, as a matter of urgency, to reduce dramatically the delays in waiting times for social welfare applications?

This year, the bill for social protection expenditure will be more than €20 billion. This money has been voted, is available and is being paid to a wide range of people who draw on the services of the Department of Social Protection. I note that the spending profile set out by the Deputy's party for the Department of Social Protection was €1.5 billion lower than the current figure. Were expenditure to be reduced by this amount, it would affect and impact on many people in different sectors.

I am aware from applications that come before me, as a Deputy, of the difficulties that arise in this regard. However, I am also aware of the continuous stream of appeals that come when an application is turned down because decisions may be appealed more than once. While it is regrettable that there is a delay in any appeals system, the sheer volume of appeals has resulted in a delay in the final decisions on appeals.

Deputy Martin is aware that supplementary welfare payments have been voted and are available to those who find themselves in a position where a final appeal has not been determined. This means no one is left in limbo and without assistance from the Department of Social Protection. The Deputy is also aware that the core rates have been protected in respect of all social welfare payments. The money is available.

The position in so far as lone parents are concerned is that the strategy is to allow flexibility for everybody to play their full part in their lives and the development of the economy.

During a visit to Sligo the other day, I called into the Intreo office to meet staff who are drawn from the Department of Social Protection and the Health Service Executive's community welfare service. As the pioneers of this new structure, Intreo is doing extraordinary work with the live register and different categories of people who draw social welfare payments. It is a very encouraging development and we want to extend the service across the country.

While I would like to think that appeals that have been lodged could be dealt with more swiftly, the issue is the sheer volume of appeals. This is due to the change from one category to another, which in many cases results in continuing appeals.

The social protection budget is in excess of €20 billion or more than €1.5 billion more than budgeted for by the Deputy's party. The money has been voted, allocated and is being paid and every effort is being made by the Minister for Social Protection to streamline the efficiency of payments. I hope the situation in so far as clarity about decisions and the speed with which decisions are made in respect of appeals can also be dealt with in the time ahead. This is a matter of priority for the Government and the Minister for Social Protection.

The Taoiseach's words will be cold comfort to those who are in this position. People are being left in limbo. The supplementary welfare allowance system is not adequate and does not provide a payment in 70% of cases. The self-employed, for example, are finding it extraordinarily difficult to access the supplementary welfare allowance.

I ask the Taoiseach to stop using phrases such as "I would like to think we could have better times". It is his job and the job of the Minister to ensure the waiting times are shortened-----

Deputy Martin made a hames of his job when he was in government.

-----and reduced to a reasonable timeframe. The length of time is having a huge impact on families who are in real difficulty and are on the breadline. I ask the Taoiseach to stop using phrases such as "to allow flexibility for people to play their part in society".

The Deputy should ask his supplementary question.

We are taking €50 a week away from them in order that they can have flexibility to play their part in society. That is what the Taoiseach just said and is insulting-----

It is to allow them to-----

Please-----

-----to the people who are losing their incomes.

A supplementary question, please.

They cannot stand the mumbo jumbo that is coming from Departments and Ministers on a daily basis.

False anger.

Contrived anger.

The Deputy is misleading the House.

I am not misleading the House. That is the record of the Labour Party in charge of social welfare.

Contrived.

Deputy-----

That is the Labour Party hitting people on low incomes.

I ask the Deputy to put his supplementary question, please. He is over his time.

The Government Deputy Whip is a very difficult man to ignore, but I will try. I will put the following question.

The Deputy is still in denial.

Will the Taoiseach accept that the waiting times are unacceptable? Will he give a commitment to the House and to the people, who are waiting for applications and appeals to be processed, that he will move fast to reduce those delays? Will he reverse the policy on lone parents and the excessive and disproportionate burden they are being asked to take vis-à-vis anyone else?

I have no time for the Deputy's false anger, coming in here week after week with the kind of nonsense he goes on with.

It is contrived.

The anger is outside.

He sat over here as a Minister as part of a decrepit Government that time after time cut social welfare benefits without any consultation with the people involved.

The previous Government cut the minimum wage.

How much has the present Government cut in the past two and a half years?

He allowed the self-employed not to be covered under the Social Welfare Acts in the so-called veneer of the Celtic tiger years and did nothing about it.

What about the cut to the carers?

Would you please-----

Deputy Martin allowed that to continue.

For many years.

This Government is allowing self-employed people to participate in the insurance scheme.

The Taoiseach should answer the question about the self-employed and social welfare.

Deputy O'Dea, please.

Deputy Martin should not come in here with his false anger every week.

I am entitled to come in here and put the hard questions to the Taoiseach that he refuses to answer.

The Taoiseach has no answers.

We have had enough of that.

The Taoiseach should tell that to the people who have died waiting for a welfare allowance.

As Deputy Martin well knows, the supplementary welfare allowance is a means-tested allowance.

There is no need for the chorus.

If 70% of applications for supplementary welfare allowance are being refused it is because those applicants have another income.

It is a complete fabrication. The Taoiseach should get into the real world.

Is the Deputy telling me that supplementary welfare allowance should not be means tested and should be paid irrespective of whether a person has another allowance, salary or income?

I could give several examples that would contradict that.

Deputy Martin needs to focus on what is real here.

The Taoiseach needs to focus and answer the question.

I have no time for his false anger week after week.