Results 241-260 of 16,410 for are speaker:Heather Humphreys

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Statistical reporting is already provided for. It includes periodic reporting on the performance of these funds and any other matters that are considered to be appropriate to report on.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...is important. It states that the first standard would be drawn up from a date no later than "the beginning of years 7 to 9." That means that the standard for employments to be exempt from AE are to be drawn up by the end of year 6 at the latest. The reason we are leaving it until that time is that we see some of the contributions increase. Initially, we start off with 1.5%. It...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: No. If a person is in a PRSA, the majority of PRSAs are not done through payroll deduction. That means that a person has that pension himself or herself. However, that person can also have an automatic enrolment as well. They can go into AE because it is based on payroll deduction. If there is no payroll deduction for any other pension, that person can have AE.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: No. Auto-enrolment is available from day one. Nobody is going to lose out. There is very little in this and what we are talking about because if we substitute years 7 to 9 with 4 to 6, we would have to calculate to the end of year 3 and, therefore, the employees will only have had the benefit of 1.5%. It will not have moved on to the next step. That is why I am saying the end of year 6...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...more money in my pocket or a pension back when I started to work, I would have taken more money in my pocket and forgotten about the pension. However, when you get closer to the pension age, you are glad that you have the pension. It is as simple as that. We want to get people started and get them in the habit of saving for six months. If they opt out after six months, they will get...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...I need to clear up some issues. I asked the same questions that each of the Deputies did when I went through this in detail. Although it seemed like a fit, when you look into it and consider it carefully, we are setting up a new, separate State body that will manage and take participants' money and it will be solely dedicated to looking after that. The NTMA invests State money in the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...ups. It will have it. The investment managers will only have one account. There will not be individual accounts. It will all be managed through NAERSA. The point I wish to make is that there are economies of scale there because we are pooling all of the contributions. There will be three different pots of low risk, medium risk and high risk so people can decide which pot they...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...and Paris Agreement, which guide the international community on matters such as carbon emissions and investment in unethical assets. The inclusion of these measures ensures that ESG concerns are well represented in the AE system. The inclusion of an additional and highly specific fund would add to the cost of the system which would be borne by the participants. This is because the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...treatment of the lower paid workers who will benefit from automatic enrolment. I am going to go through the amendments in specific detail but that is why. I do take on board what the Deputies are saying but if it is going to be applied, it has to be applied to everything. It cannot just be applied to automatic enrolment and the investment of the money that comes from the members and the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...the armaments industry, no more than do any members of the committee. I must look at this context here, though, from the point of view of the contributions of the citizens of this country. These are contributions. Money, of course, goes into the NTMA. While that is garnered by taxation, the money in this case does not come from taxation. These are contributions people are making into...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: We do not need this amendment because it is already in the Bill. The Bill already provides for relevant information sharing arrangements, and these are set out in Part 7. In particular, section 108 provides for a specified body, which includes the Revenue Commissioners, to share with the new authority any information that is necessary and proportionate for the purpose of the performance of...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: There is no naivety here. There are extensive provisions with regard to employer compliance, information-sharing, and the anti-victimisation of employees, including employees having recourse to the WRC for the last point. We do not need the amendment because it is already there. The point is that from day one when you take somebody on, you enrol them in auto-enrolment. That is it. That...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...the minimum contribution rates. They saw such an offering as a benefit to aid the recruitment and retention of employees. I believe, and I hope, the same result will happen here in Ireland. We are in a competitive labour market and employers want to attract good staff, and in order to do that they have been upping their offering in terms of the occupational pensions they provide. They...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (2 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...covered by EU Regulations or a country with which Ireland has a Bilateral Social Security Agreement, or Revenue Job Assist. The household composition criteria do not apply: for applicants who are renting a room under prescribed conditions within the property for which the rental income is disregarded. This allows for a current limit of up to €269.23 per week in respect of income...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (2 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...Occupational Injuries Benefit Regulations’. This report concluded that COVID-19 does not satisfy the criteria for recognition as an occupational illness or an accident at work under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. Specifically, presumptions about workplace transmission would not be sustainable on a general basis in the current environment where infection rates are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (2 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...which provides certain dental, optical, and medical appliances benefits to insured workers, the self-employed and retired people who have the required number of PRSI contributions. These treatments are also available to dependent spouses or partners, if applicable. As part of Budget 2022, I announced an expansion to the range of services available under the medical appliances strand of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (2 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Public service pension policy is a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. However, as regards social insurance contributions, these are made in accordance with the legislation and the employment terms and conditions in force at the time they are made, and eligibility for social insurance benefits flows from those particular contributions. Civil and public...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (2 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...-rate insurable employment. As the person concerned worked in the civil service, they may be considered for a mixed insurance pension. To qualify for this pension, 520 employment contributions are required, of which at least 260 must be full-rate employment contributions with the remainder made up of modified contributions. They may also be considered for pro-rata state pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (2 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: There is a range of supports provided by the Community Welfare Service (CWS) under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme. These supports can consist of a basic weekly payment, a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of certain expenses, as well as single Additional Needs Payments (ANPs). The basic SWA provides immediate assistance for those in need who are awaiting the outcome...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (2 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Under the range of capital investment programmes operated by my Department, I have prioritised the development and enhancement of community centres across the country as they are a vital resource for all of the community. Under the 2022 Community Centre Investment Fund, which was the first year of the Fund's operation, over €45.8 million was committed for improvement and...