2761. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for the delay in finalising a jobseeker's allowance claim by a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33316/19]

The person concerned was issued with a revised decision on 2nd January 2019 following a revised means assessment. This resulted in an overpayment for the period 4th February 2016 to 4th June 2018. The decision of 2nd January 2019 was reviewed on the 3rd January 2019 as it would be more transparent to the person concerned to issue 3 separate appealable decisions for each period in question from 4th February 2016 to 4th June 2018.

The delay in finalising the Jobseekers Allowance claim since the date of the revised decision was, given the amount of overpayment, intended to allow the person concerned sufficient time to appeal the decisions and/or provide further information.

To date, no appeal has been lodged nor has any further information been provided since the date of the decision. In the absence of any further contact from the person concerned, recovery will commence on 29th July 2019, thus giving the person concerned more time to make contact with my Department.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.