Results 901-920 of 16,601 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Early Childhood Care and Education (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Privately employed playschool workers who are not paid outside of school term time and who apply for a social welfare payment are included as Educational Sector Workers (ESWs). ESWs who wish to avail of income support while temporarily laid-off during the school breaks can apply for a jobseeker’s payment. A jobseeker’s payment is paid for days of unemployment that the person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Isolation (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy, with a five-year timeframe, that aims to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less, and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive countries in the EU. The Roadmap, published in January 2020, is an overarching statement of Government strategy, which acknowledges the range of sectoral plans already in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Isolation (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy, with a five-year timeframe, that aims to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less, and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive countries in the EU. The Roadmap, published in January 2020, is an overarching statement of Government strategy, which acknowledges the range of sectoral plans already in place...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Isolation (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 is a whole of Government strategy, with a five-year timeframe, that aims to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less, and to make Ireland one of the most socially inclusive countries in the EU. The Roadmap, published in January 2020, is an overarching statement of Government strategy, which acknowledges the range of sectoral plans already in place...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Communications (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Guardian’s payment (contributory) and Guardian’s payment (non-contributory) are respectively social insurance and social assistance (means tested) payments made to a person caring for a child who satisfies the definition of an “orphan” under social welfare legislation. The purpose of the guardian's payment scheme is to provide income support in respect of those...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Civil Registration Service (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Persons wishing to marry in the State must serve three months notification of intention to marry to a registrar who is an employee of the Civil Registration Service which operates under the aegis of the HSE. The serving of notice of intention to marry is an operational matter for the HSE. Provision is made in the Civil Registration Act 2004 for such unfortunate scenarios whereby persons...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (15 Jul 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 Payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department has a commitment to an annual level of control reviews and operates an ongoing continuous schedule of control and review activity for those in receipt of a pension.The objective is to ensure that customers on a pension, regardless of age, continue to receive their correct rate of payment over the lifetime of their claim. Reviews can arise from customer requests for a review...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed to ensuring that only those people who are eligible receive welfare and other payments. Our overriding objective is to ensure that we pay the right people, the right amount, through the right scheme/programme, at the right time. All schemes, including Disability Allowance (DA), are subject to periodic control reviews and continuing eligibility checks to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance (DA) is a means-tested payment for people with a specified disability whose income falls below certain limits and who are aged between 16 and are under 66. The Department periodically reviews claims in payment to ensure that there is continued entitlement. In this case, the means of the person concerned were reviewed.  Means are any income belonging to the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) is a weekly payment of €2.50 for people on certain social welfare payments who are also receiving both the Living Alone Increase and the Fuel Allowance. The primary objective of the TSA is to support the most vulnerable people at risk of isolation, including the elderly and those with disabilities, by helping them maintain access to personal...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: This Government acknowledges the important role that carers, including foster carers, play and remains fully committed to supporting them. That is why I was really pleased to announce that Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance eligibility is being extended to include children for whom Foster Care Allowance is being paid. The Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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. In 2025, total spending on these payments is expected to exceed over €1.9 billion. The Carer’s Allowance scheme is the main scheme by which the Department provides income support to carers in the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (15 Jul 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 their fourteenth birthday. The earnings disregard for the Jobseeker's Transitional Payment is €165 per week. In addition, 50% of earnings above this figure is also disregarded in the assessment of means. Increasing the disregards by €1,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a comprehensive package of carers’ income supports including Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Combined expenditure on these schemes in 2025 is expected to exceed €1.9 billion. Carer’s Allowance is a means tested social assistance income support paid to carers who...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer’s Benefit is a payment available to insured people who may need to leave work or reduce their hours to care for a person or people in need of full-time care. It can be paid for a period of two years (104 weeks) for each person being cared for and may be claimed over separate periods up to a total of two years (104 weeks). Carer’s Benefit is a payment available to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The State Pension (Non-contributory) (SPNC) is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a State Pension (Contributory), or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. The system of social assistance supports provides payments based on an income need. The means test...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Irish Language (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed to the provision of services in Irish, in accordance with the Official Languages Acts, and through our Irish Language Scheme and our Customer Charter and Action Plan 2023-2026. As of 10th July 2025 we have just under 300 staff from a range of business areas who are willing to provide a service through Irish to our customers. My Department is committed to the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: An increase for qualified adult (IQA) is a means-tested payment, payable to a claimant whose spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is being wholly or mainly maintained by them, and where that qualified adult’s personal means from any source does not exceed a means test income limit. Where a qualified adult has weekly means of less than €100, the maximum rate of IQA is payable....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (15 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Benefit Payment for 65-Year-Olds is a payment for people aged between 65 and 66 years who are retired, that is they have ceased all employment or self-employment. The person concerned applied for Benefit Payment for 65-Year-Olds(BP65) on the 17/01/2025. As the person concerned continues to pay self-employed PRSI on rental income it was considered that they have not ceased self-employment...