Results 421-440 of 16,601 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (17 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. The programme is designed so that meals are provided by contracted food business operators, with the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the School Meals Programme, the primary relationship is between the school and supplier. My department provides the funding for the meals directly to the school and it is the responsibility of each school board to administer the Programme in their school including handling the procurement process. The Schools Procurement Unit, under the Department of Education, provides guidance to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (17 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. Under the Hot School Meals Scheme, parents can choose food for their child every week from an approved...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: My department has an oversight role in relation to the School Meals Programme and conducts regular inspections of schools which includes reviewing the menu. Under the existing audit process, some 400 schools are inspected onsite annually by my department. In total, 121 desk assessments were carried out in 2024. This represents a 20% total check on schools. For 2025, 400 schools will be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 783 and 784 together. My department established an interdepartmental working group, which includes the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Youth, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, to oversee and make recommendations on the operation of the School Meals Programme. I have...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Age-related rates apply to 18 to 24 year olds in receipt of the means-tested Jobseeker's Allowance scheme and are designed to prevent long-term welfare dependency. Age-related reduced rates do not apply to all young jobseekers and some exceptions are applied including those with qualified children or where they are living independently of the family home and are in receipt of state housing...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The average processing times for appeals at the end of Quarter 2, 2025 was 21.9 weeks. The Chief Appeals Officer, at the end of last year put in place measures to deal with the increase in appeals received during 2024, including assigning an additional 20 Appeals Officers to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. In addition, new Social Welfare Appeals Regulations (S.I. No. 744 of 2024) came...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the average processing time for appeals during 2024 was 23.5 weeks. The average processing time during 2023 was 16 weeks. The breakdown of processing times for each social welfare scheme for 2023 are available in the published 2023 Annual Report. The breakdown of processing times for each social welfare scheme for 2024 will be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is committed to providing an independent, accessible and fair appeals service in a prompt and courteous manner. Social Welfare Appeals Officers are appointed to determine appeals and be independent in their decision-making. This means they must decide each case based on social welfare legislation and the individual facts before them. The current statutory...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming and streamlining the appeals process in recent years. An Appeals Modernisation Project to develop and implement new business processes was completed in Q 1 2025. The purpose of the project was to streamline and enhance the end-to-end appeals process for the customer,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: There are a number of existing services that provide appellants with appropriate information and support during the Social Welfare Appeals process. My Department has a network of 120 Intreo centres and branch offices throughout the country which are open to customers five days per week during business hours. Customers can also contact any of the Department’s scheme areas by phone...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €400 million in 2025. Any decision to increase the rate of Fuel Allowance payable will require additional funding for the scheme and could only be considered in a wider budgetary and policy context. My Department does of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Rent Supplement continues to play a key role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme supporting 6,385 active recipients at the end of August 2025. The scheme provides short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I recognise the vital role secure employment plays in providing financial independence, increased confidence and social participation for disabled people. My Department provides a suite of employment supports to ensure access to the workforce for all disabled people, including the Deaf community. My Department's Intreo service is a single point of contact for all employment and income...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a range of supports for organisations and employers to assist them in providing meaningful employment for disabled people. The organisation referenced is currently availing of my Department’s Wage Subsidy Scheme. In the past, the organisation has also been funded through Dormant Accounts Funding provided by my Department. The Wage Subsidy Scheme is a key...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government has clearly set out a timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the Government. This is a major change to the Carer's Allowance and to the Irish social welfare system generally. It is important that we make progress in a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's Allowance is the main income support scheme for family carers in the community. Normally, under the one payment per person rule, people eligible for multiple social welfare payments typically receive the higher of the available options. This reflects the fact that the payments are intended as an income support that arises due to a specified contingency that eliminates or significantly...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Funding (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: On 5 June, I announced the latest round of funding of over €17 million for the delivery of 212 projects under the Community Recognition Fund covering all 31 local authority areas. That announcement brought the total number of projects that have been awarded funding under the fund to over 1,400 in just over two years. A significant number of projects approved under the Community...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Development Projects (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a number of funding streams to support communities across a range of themes. The CLÁR programme provides funding for small-scale projects in designated rural areas. Measure 1 of the programme supports the development of community facilities and amenities, including community gardens and allotments. The 2025 programme is now closed for applications and I hope to...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Funding (17 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) has provided approximately €110 million since 2022 for the enhancement and refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres. I am committed to delivering further iterations of the scheme in the coming years in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government for this to become a permanent rolling...