Results 261-280 of 16,601 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Entitlement to a jobseeker payment is dependent on the recipient being available for, capable of and genuinely seeking work. This reflects the concept of ‘rights and responsibilities’ whereby people who are unemployed have the right to an income support from the State and a right to be supported in their efforts to secure employment, but also have a responsibility to seek...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reports (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: As part of Budget 2024, an Interdepartmental Working Group was established with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to examine and review the entire system of means test for carers payments. The Group was chaired by the Department of Social Protection. The Interdepartmental Working Group has concluded its work, and the report from the group has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment is targeted at those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: There have been significant improvements made to the Carer’s Allowance means test in recent years. These changes have impacted positively with many more carers availing of the payment and potentially receiving a higher rate of payment. There are currently almost 102,000 people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance, an increase of almost 14% in the last five years alone. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: In general, access to the Household Benefits Package and the Fuel Allowance payment for those aged under 66 is a secondary benefit linked to a person being in receipt of certain primary social protection payments, many of them illness related. Entitlement to these primary social protection payments is not provided on the basis of a diagnosis but on the basis of the impact of that diagnosis on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer’s Allowance is a payment for people on low incomes who are caring for a person who needs full-time care and attention because of age, disability, or illness, including mental illness. If you are getting certain social welfare payments and you are providing full time care and attention to another person whilst also meeting all other conditions for Carer’s Allowance, you...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The ESRI's report 'Poverty, Income Inequality and Living Standards in Ireland' is an important contribution to inform Government on how to support families in need. The increases in child consistent poverty rates, as reported in March 2025 by the Central Statistics Office in its Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2025, are disappointing. It is also important to recognise that the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: In November 2023, my Department published a report on the inclusion of long COVID in the Occupational Injuries Benefit Regulations. This report concluded that COVID-19 does not satisfy the statutory criteria for recognition as an occupational illness or accident at work. Specifically, it found that presumptions about workplace transmission would not be sustainable as it is not possible to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The estimated annual cost of increasing Carer's Allowance by 2%, increasing the full rate by €6 and the half rate by €3, is €24.55m. The estimated annual cost of increasing Carer's Allowance by 10%, increasing the full rate by €29.80 and the half rate by €14.90, is €121.96m. The estimated annual cost of increasing Carer's Allowance by 20%,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. In Budget 2025, it was announced that the Hot School Meals Scheme would be extended to all remaining...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's Allowance is a weekly social welfare payment to people who provide full-time care to people with qualifying conditions. The number of awarded and rejected claims by year is shown in the Table. Year Number of claims awarded Number of claims rejected 2015 14,378 7,920 2016 19,308 11,144 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government 2025 has committed to examining extending the Free Travel scheme to include children benefitting from the Domiciliary Care Allowance. Domiciliary Care Allowance is a non means tested payment payable at €360 a month per child. In addition, all recipients of Domiciliary Care Allowance qualify for the Carer's Support Grant in June of each year. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Workers, including Early Years Educators who are not paid for holidays during the summer months and who wish to avail of income support while temporarily laid-off can apply for a jobseeker’s payment. The person applying must satisfy all the qualifying conditions to receive a payment. This includes completing the relevant claim application forms and providing supporting documentation...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Child Benefit becomes payable in respect of newborn babies in the month after their birth, subject to the qualifying conditions. As part of Budget 2025, a new-born baby grant of €280 was introduced. This is paid to families of babies born, or children with a date of placement, on or after 1 December 2024 in addition to their regular first month’s Child Benefit payment of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The setting of a new and ambitious Child Poverty Target is a commitment set out in the Programme for Government 2025: Securing Ireland’s Future. This commitment is also set out in the Government’s national strategy to reduce poverty, the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025. On 10th September last, based on these commitments, and a public consultation process that took...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments (ANPs) to help meet a necessary expense that an eligible person cannot pay from their weekly income, personal and/or household resources. An ANP is an overarching term used to refer to Exceptional and Urgent Needs Payments. The ANP scheme is demand led and administered by Community...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. There are 79 schools to date where the supplier The Lunch Bag and Fresh Today - who have the same CEO...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Bereaved Partner's Contributory Pension is a weekly payment to the widow, widower, surviving civil partner or surviving qualified cohabitant of a deceased person. It is available to those who satisfy the necessary PRSI contribution conditions, either on their own record or on that of their deceased spouse or partner, subject to certain criteria. There are currently 2,398 customers in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Poverty (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of financial supports, energy efficiency awareness initiatives and investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. The supports provided by the Government are cross-departmental and, in this regard, my Department is represented on the Energy...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The scheme operates from June to September each year. The allowance is payable in respect of eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a Child Support...