I received a response from the office of the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, on delays in carer's allowance appeals. The letter states that in 2018 it was 9.6 weeks and in 2019 it is 9.1 weeks. I made an appeal on behalf of a constituent on 12 March, 14 weeks ago. I rang the appeals office this morning and discovered it had not even received the file yet. When I asked how long it would take to process after it got the file and I was told it could be up to three months. That is 26 weeks or six months.

The Deputy should put a question to the Taoiseach so that he can answer it.

I ask the Taoiseach to use his good offices. If extra staff are needed, they should be provided to deal with these. We pay a lot of lipservice to carers and repeat the same platitudes to them. They are at their wits' end.

Let the Taoiseach, if he can, respond.

I will have to ask the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, to reply to the Deputy because I do not know the details. However, we ensure that if an appeal is made in somebody's favour, that they receive the payment in arrears. I know that is not much good for someone who is waiting for it, but it ensures that nobody loses out if their appeal is upheld.