Results 61-80 of 14,473 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I agree with Deputy Burke and we will try to do that. Not just during Covid, but during Storm Éowyn we saw the real value of local groups, hubs and services. With my other hat of rural and community development, I am working within the Department on supporting those local hubs and services. The timing of hospital appointments frustrates me. Even if a person was able to use public...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: We have had this discussion a few times today and the Government acknowledges the important role that carers are playing and we will continue to support them in that role. The enhanced State pension provision for people who have been caring for an incapacitated dependant for 20 years or more was introduced on 1 January 2024. If a person had more than 20 years of caring for an incapacitated...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Absolutely. As I said to Deputy O'Connor earlier, we want to ensure that the social protection system is work-friendly and the welfare traps which inhibit people from taking up work are removed. I highlighted earlier that if a person on jobseeker's payment receives an offer of part-time work, he or she can end up worse off financially if his or her hours are spread over the whole working...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. Since the Government was elected, we have prioritised the Cabinet committee on disability, which is chaired by the Taoiseach and meets monthly. It is addressing a range of issues, including income, but also services and supports. We had a discussion with Deputy John Connolly earlier about the wage subsidy scheme to assist employers and encourage them to employ people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Absolutely. We had a discussion on a previous question, asked by Deputy James O'Connor, about the introduction of the commitment in the programme for Government to introducing a working age payment. That is important to ensure that people who transition from a welfare support payment to work are not worse off. I will be focused on that. As I said, we will publish a number of potential...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an cheist. The Indecon report on the cost of disability, commissioned and funded by my Department, found that the extra costs of disability are due to a number of factors, including higher costs of healthcare, transport, education, housing and other services that arise because of a higher level of dependence on these services by people with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for his question. As he knows and referred to, the programme for Government has committed to protect core welfare rates while ensuring that available resources are targeted at vulnerable groups. The programme for Government includes a commitment to examine key ancillary benefits such as the fuel allowance, household benefits package and living alone allowance to support...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I assure the Deputy that we absolutely value the work of carers. That has been shown by the work done on the income disregards, which will take effect this July, in recent years and the introduction of the long-term carer's contribution scheme in January 2024. Under that scheme, a person who has been a full-time carer for an incapacitated dependent for at least 20 years, or 1,040 weeks, can...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The report on----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: On carers?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I will clarify it for the Deputy after the debate. We are looking at everything. I will not accept the contention that we do not value carers. We absolutely do value them. We have shown through a number of initiatives in recent years that we do so. There have been initiatives in successive budgets and contributions around income disregards and the carer's support payment. We have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I will come back to the Deputy on that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Deputy raises a very important point. My Department's focus is on improving the income supports that are being made available to carers and improving the support that we as a Department can give to them. In terms of our aging population, we have to work with our colleagues in the Department of Health to ensure that we align all of our plans in this space. That is something I am more...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy McCormack. Our national employment strategy, Pathways to Work, sets out the Government’s approach to supporting jobseekers to prepare for, access and take up employment opportunities. In line with this strategy, my Department’s Intreo employment services throughout the country engage with jobseekers to support them to find work. The Government has provided in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: If Deputy O'Reilly would like to drop me a line on that, I will follow up on it. I know more than most the value of school caretakers, particularly to the teachers. I congratulate Deputy O'Connor on his appointment as Chairman of the employment and enterprise committee. I look forward to working with him. In that context, we need to ensure that the social protection system can be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: We will absolutely engage across the House on proposals in this space. People are being disincentivised from moving from the welfare system into work because of anomalies that should no longer exist. With everybody's input, we can do that, hopefully by the end of this year.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I have already met with a number of groups in this space pointing out many anomalies in the system we need to address to assist lone parents. As the Deputy said, it is a very challenging role. I have engaged with the groups and unfortunately it seems there are systems that are not helping them. I am determined to address those anomalies to make sure that there is support in place for lone...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: In future, I will make sure we have the answers as Gaeilge for the Deputy. We are very aware of the key role that family carers play. The main income supports to carers provided by my Department are carer’s allowance, carer’s benefit, domiciliary care allowance and the carer’s support grant, which will account for over €1.9 billion of my Department's budget in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for his question. I take it that it concerns people in receipt of the one-parent family allowance, domiciliary care allowance and the half-rate carer's allowance in respect of a child who is turning 16 this year. Of the approximately 10,200 people currently in receipt of both the one-parent family payment and half-rate carer's allowance, approximately 390 will cease being...