Results 521-540 of 16,601 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Bodies (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body under the aegis of my Department, that has an independent mandate to provide information, advice and advocacy on a wide range of public services. CIB itself is governed by an independent Board of Directors. The Citizens Information Service (CIS), in turn, comprises of eight regional companies that are funded by CIB to deliver...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Job Initiative scheme provides full-time employment for people 35 years of age or over who had been unemployed for five years or more. Since November 2004, there has been no recruitment to the scheme. Since January 2004, participants on the Job Initiative scheme cannot retain their entitlement to Fuel Allowance while participating on the scheme. The current rate of payment for a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to the 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 (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: One Fuel Allowance is payable per household. Where there is a second residence on a site, such as a caravan or mobile home, that residence must have planning permission to be considered a household in its’ own right for the purposes of Fuel allowance. As the person concerned could not provide evidence that they obtained planning permission for the caravan, it was considered part of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to the Department in as targeted a manner as possible. The means test ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned was awarded State Pension (contributory) from the date they reached 66 years of age. Following a review of their entitlement, the person concerned was awarded the maximum number of HomeCaring Periods increasing their rate of payment from €246.30 to €256.00 per week with effect from the date they reached 66 years of age. Arrears due will issue on 5...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of Oral Hearings held by the Social Welfare Appeals Office for each year from 2018 to 2024 are outlined in the following table. Figures for 2025 are not yet available. Year Oral Hearing 2018 5,397 2019 5,829 2020 1,712 2121 1,050 2022 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department's statistics on demographics such as age group are collated on the basis of a recipient; that is, a person with a claim status of 'Awarded and Paying' at a particular point in time. Statistics on newly awarded claims are collated in overall numbers only, and demographic detail about these claims is not available. Statistics on the age groups of recipients of Invalidity Pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government has committed 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. Significant progress has been made in recent years to supports for carers and in particular the Carer's Allowance income disregard. The latest increase occurred in July...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Legislative Process (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2025 was enacted on 21 July 2025. The provisions of the Act commenced from that date. My Department has begun processing claims for the Bereaved Partners (Contributory) Pension and is currently writing to those who submitted a claim following the Supreme Court decision in January 2024 seeking any additional...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Jobseeker's Transitional Payment is a means tested payment for lone parents, under 66, whose youngest child is aged between seven and thirteen inclusive. The weekly rate of payment is €244. There are currently some 18,461 recipients of the Jobseeker's Transitional Payment. The cost of a €1 increase to the weekly rate of payment would be €959,972 per year. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The full year cost of increasing the disregard for the Jobseeker's Transitional Payment is difficult to estimate with accuracy given labour market dynamics, wage fluctuations, flows into and between schemes, and recipients leaving the scheme as the youngest child in a household reaches 14. Based on information currently available to my department, the estimated cost of increasing the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The full year cost of increasing the Working Family Payment income thresholds is difficult to estimate with accuracy given the dynamics of the labour market and wage fluctuations. It is also challenging to forecast the number of new claimants who would avail of the payment as a result of the increased threshold. It is not possible to provide a costing for a 10% increase to each Working...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: One of the qualifying conditions for receipt of Jobseeker's Benefit for the Self-employed requires a person to have ceased self-employment. However, a person who continues their self-employment may qualify for Jobseeker's Allowance, provided that they satisfy the qualifying conditions, including a means test. Also, a person can work as an employee, in insurable employment, for up to three...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The General Register Office (GRO) is the statutory authority for the registration of life events and is the central repository for records relating to births, stillbirths, adoptions, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths in Ireland. In August 2024, the Civil Registration (Electronic Registration) Act 2024, following recommendations from the HSE’s National Women & Infants...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Funding for the various schemes and services operated by my Department is centrally allocated. Expenditure is recorded at the scheme level, not the individual level. Accordingly, it is not possible to attribute expenditure to individual-level characteristics such as county. Total funding / expenditure from 2023 to Q2 2025 is set out in the table below. Figures for 2024 and 2025 are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: An application for State pension (contributory) was received from the person concerned on 3 March 2025. As the person concerned also worked in the UK., their social insurance record was requested from the UK authorities. On receipt of the this record, it was established that they did not qualify for a pension under Irish legislation alone, due to an overlapping period of contributions in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Maternity Benefit is paid for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women who are on Maternity Leave from work and who satisfy certain pay related social insurance (PRSI) contributions. Government has provided over €295 million for the scheme in 2025. Maternity Benefit is payable at the weekly rate of €289 and was increased by €15 from 1 January 2025. If a person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Properties (8 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Matters relating to the property portfolio for my Department are the responsibility of the Office of Public Works (OPW). With the exception of my Department's headquarters, Áras Mhic Dhiarmada (AMD), Dublin, which is held by the Minister on behalf of the Social Insurance Fund, all premises are either owned or leased by the OPW. There are two State bodies under the aegis of my...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (8 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...