A woman who applied for a mobility allowance had to wait more than a year to get a simple letter of acknowledgement from her local health board, the Dáil was told.
It also heard that a child with cerebral palsy, who has been refused the allowance but given the right to appeal, will have to wait 22 months for the case to be heard, because the appeals body is overwhelmed by the backlog of cases. The child is less than five-years-old and under the care of a children's foundation in Louth.
Both cases are in the North Eastern Health Board area and Mr Arthur Morgan (SF, Louth) said that State agencies should be "much more user-friendly and helpful". The mobility allowance of €142 is paid monthly to people with severe disability, subject to a means test. "Many people who are clearly entitled to the allowance give up during the process, because they become weary," he said.
Mr Morgan asked how the Department of Health could allow these problems to continue. "Is it just or reasonable that the most vulnerable people in society should be exposed in such a manner?" Many individuals who applied for mobility allowance and were turned down initially, were then granted the allowance after a lengthy appeals process.
"People suffer extraordinary difficulties because they have to wait for a considerable number of years," he said.
However, the Minister of State for Health, Mr Ivor Callely, said there had been an increase in the number of area medical officers in Louth, and service pressures had eased since last year.
He understood there had been some delays in processing applications, but "backlogs have been addressed in the past two months and there is now a reasonable waiting time for medical assessments for mobility allowance."
The Sinn Féin TD said that the housebound woman, who was diagnosed 22 years ago with multiple sclerosis, applied to the North Eastern Health Board in August 2002 and received a reply in September last year, stating that she was ineligible. "No reason was given for the decision, but the letter stated an appeal could be made."
He said that she immediately commenced that process, but almost six months later she was told she would have to wait "for an unknown length of time" for that appeal to be heard.
Mr Callely said that "it would upset me to think that people who clearly qualify for this allowance drop out of the applications process".
The Government put the mobility allowance in place to "ensure that those who qualify are able to access the allowance". The Minister pointed out that a North Eastern Health Board member had stated that a better service would be provided with the abolition of the health boards.
And he added that a mobility allowance appeals case was due for consideration next week. "If that is not a true reflection of the prevailing situation, the deputy can bring further information to my attention."
