Results 41-60 of 16,380 for are speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...Costs). The CSO has released final values for this statistic in respect of Q1, Q2 and Q3 of 2023 and a preliminary value for Q4 2023. Averaged over these four quarters, average weekly earnings are €834.70. The State Pension rate of €277.30 per week currently represents 33.2% of average weekly earnings. Any changes to the State Pensions, both Contributory and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Free Travel scheme is available to people over 66 years and to people in receipt of certain social welfare payments who are under 66 years. From 29th July 2024, Free Travel is also available to persons who are medically certified as unfit to drive for a period of at least 12 months. Free Travel recipients must be permanently resident in the State. The scheme permits travel for free on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is the safety net within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 391 to 393, inclusive, together. Jobseeker's Allowance is a payment to people who are unemployed but are available for and genuinely seeking full time employment. It is a means-tested payment, so a person's income must be below a certain amount in order to qualify for a Jobseeker's Allowance payment. For the week ending 12th May 2024, there were 13,719...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Correspondence (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a range of employment services to support jobseekers in preparing for, securing, and sustaining employment. These services are either provided directly by my Department’s own staff, or on behalf of my Department through Intreo Partners and other service providers in both the community and voluntary and commercial sectors. Turas Nua is one of our Intreo Partners....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering 443,000 children are now eligible for funding. Schools are responsible for choosing their own School Meals supplier on the open market in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with Public Procurement...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...that the new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit for fully unemployed jobseekers will cost approximately €130 million in a full year. Full year costs will not arise until 2026 as people who are in receipt of Jobseeker's Benefit when the new scheme commences will remain on that scheme until their claim is exhausted. On the basis of a Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit implementation...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...12 years of age is €11.8m. The estimated full year cost of increasing the Increase for a Qualified Child by €1 for children aged 12 and over is €4.4m. It should be noted that these costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...each of the social insurance schemes, social assistance schemes, other weekly schemes and other scheme payments is €75.99 million as shown in the table below. It should be noted that these costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients. Payment Personal Qualified...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The estimated full-year cost of introducing a child benefit double payment for one month of the year is €177.4 million. It should be noted that these costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...in June 2022 and the service is now in a run-off phase. The service is due to cease completely in June 2024. JobPath is a payment by results model and all set-up and day-to-day operational costs are borne by the companies. The companies are paid on the basis of performance and with the exception of the initial registration fee; payments are made only when a client has achieved...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...people's access to social insurance schemes in recent years, including extending access to invalidity pension, jobseeker's benefit and treatment benefit to the self-employed. These improvements are part of the Government’s stated aim of creating a supportive environment for entrepreneurship, including providing an income safety net to employees and the self-employed alike. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Disability allowance (DA) is a means-tested payment for people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. The applicant must be suffering from an injury, disease, congenital deformity or physical or mental illness or defect which has lasted for one year or is expected to last for one year and, as a result of which, they are substantially restricted in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult in need of full-time care and attention. To qualify, the carer must satisfy PRSI conditions; employment conditions; show that they are providing full-time care and attention; and show that the care recipient requires full-time care and attention. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering 443,000 children are now eligible for funding. Funding under the school meals programme can be provided for breakfast, snack, cold lunch, dinner, hot school meals and afterschool clubs and is based on a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The number of recipients at end 2023 and the estimated number of recipients in 2024 as per the Revised Estimates Volume are shown in the the table below. Recipients by DSP Scheme Payment Frequency Recipients as at end December 2023 2024 Estimate for Average Recipients PENSIONS State Pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The 2023 and 2024 maximum personal weekly rate of social welfare payments are shown in Table 1. The 2023 and 2024 rates for an increase for qualified adult are shown in Table 2. The 2023 and 2024 rates for an increase in qualified child are shown in Table 3. The core average payment received in 2023 and 2024 (January - April) are shown in Table 4, which excludes the impact of any...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The delivery of locally based Community Welfare Services (CWS) to meet the needs of citizens across the country including in counties Cavan and Monaghan is a priority for me and for my Department. The Community Welfare Service provides a flexible service to meet the different needs of people, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is important that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Matters related to foster caring, including any criteria relating to work, are the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and for Tusla. This Government acknowledges the important role that carers, including Foster carers, play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the current State Pension...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Projects (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: ...community gardens. To further support communities, I announced an additional €50 million in funding under the Community Recognition Fund on March 15th last. The details of this round of funding are available on my Department's website, and there are a number of funding tranches in place over the coming months via the local authorities. The CLÁR programme provides...