Results 821-840 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy outlined a specific case where someone had retired and was going to look after his wife. There are situations where a person with fewer than 20 years of caring may be entitled to avail of home caring periods or the homemaker scheme, subject to existing qualification conditions. I do not think the person in the case the Deputy mentioned would qualify under that scheme. This...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I can take Questions Nos. 17, 18, 19 and 20.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: That is what I have now, but I might take more. There could be more to come.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I do not mind; we can go back if you wish.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. Under the law, as currently enacted, entitlement to a widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner’s contributory pension is only available to a surviving partner who was party to a marriage or civil partnership. On 22 January, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the entitlement of an unmarried cohabitant to a widow's, widower's or surviving civil...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. He has asked me a lot of questions and I will have to come back with some of the answers because this is quite technical. My officials are doing a lot of work to cover some of the particular issues the Deputy has raised. This is complex enough, and want to make sure we get it right. The Deputy said there are about 150,000 cohabiting couples. I asked my officials...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I will bring forward the proposed legislation as soon as I possibly can. Under the draft legislation, it is proposed that a person who becomes eligible for the scheme will be able to claim irrespective of the date of the death of their partner. It is also proposed that claims will be backdated to the date of the judgment of January 2024 when the existing law was found to be inconsistent...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: This Government acknowledges the important role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the State pension system gives significant recognition to those whose work history includes extended periods outside of paid employment, often to raise families or in a full-time caring role. Despite these measures, some long-term carers of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. I take the point he makes that if a person takes on a caring role later in life, he or she will not have spent 20 years caring. We introduced this in January this year. Like all of these schemes, it has to bed in. I followed the recommendations of the Pensions Commission. As I said, it carried out a lot of consultation. I am always happy to look at these things....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 50 together. Since my appointment as Minister, I have made significant improvements to the means test for carer's allowance. I have taken a range of actions to improve supports for carers over recent years through increasing payment rates and income disregards and providing once-off and extra double payments. It is important to acknowledge that there...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Yes, absolutely.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. I recognise and value the work of our carers. I mean that. We all know carers who are doing wonderful work. My Department will spend more than €1.7 billion this year on our support payments to carers. If you look at my record, improving supports for our carers has been a key priority for me as Minister for Social Protection. I might also say that I was...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Government and I personally value the work that carers do. As I said, this year alone €1.7 billion be spent on supporting our carers. We have done a lot, including through lump sum payments for carers, pensions for carers and major changes to the means test. Weekly payments have been increased by €29 over the past three years. I assure the Deputy that supporting our...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: It has been increased over the years. It started at ten hours, then went to 15 hours and the most recent increase was to 18.5 hours. We need to strike a balance here because a person needs to provide full-time care and attention and when that 18.5 hours is added to the 34 or 35 hours of care that must be provided, that is a good few hours. There are a lot of things I would like to do in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I increased the income disregards in the last budget and I always look at everything. I have taken a number of steps in recent budgets. In November, a €400 lump sum was paid to people who receive the carer's support grant. A Christmas bonus of a double payment was paid to people who are in receipt of carer's allowance and carer's benefit. I have increased the domiciliary care...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: A person has to be caring for 35 hours to qualify for the carer's allowance. He or she is allowed to work for 18.5 hours, so that brings it up to 53.5 hours per week. That is a fair week's work, in fairness, when both are done. The Deputy made a point and I do not disagree with him. Sometimes discretion can be great and then sometimes it can land you into a lot of bother, depending on who...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department delivers a range of supports to help people in receipt of a jobseekers payment to secure and sustain full-time employment. The Intreo employment service works with jobseekers on an individualised basis to identify skills, work experience and work preferences with a view to matching people to suitable job opportunities and to address skills gaps or training needs by referring...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy mentioned the case of people who want to do home help work for two or three hours per morning five days per week as opposed to working for three full days. This issue has been raised with me by these organisations as well. The aim is to get people into full-time work, not to subsidise employers because that could have unintended consequences. There are more people working...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I have considered this issue but I do not want to be in the position where we are subsidising employers to give people fewer hours either. I want to be conscious of that and we have looked at many different ways to incentivise people to get back to full-time work because that is where we want them. I know this is an issue and it is certainly something we have looked at. I will look at it...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (24 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I have not seen the report to which the Deputy referred. I know he has done a great deal of work representing people with long Covid. He has highlighted the issue on many occasions. I too have met people in my constituency office who told me they still feel the effects of Covid and are unable to do the same things physically they could before they had it. There are a number of existing...