Results 81-100 of 15,432 for speaker:Dara Calleary
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: -----and that has shown up other anomalies. The presence of children was a factor in the Supreme Court reaching its decision on the equality ground but it was not the entire factor. It is important to note that the court made a finding that acknowledged the payment was not fully in respect of children. The current legislation has nuances regarding loss or retention and these have to be...
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: No, it is important argument.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: I would also point out that we do not make the decision in relation to what amendments are ruled in or out of order.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: It is two years after the breakdown of a relationship and there are other supports available from within the Department for people in that position.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: There is a range of other supports.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: Each individual case will have different issues for which that we can ensure they get support. The Department invests over €27 billion every year in supporting people. We will-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: The one-parent family payment.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: There will be a range of payments. Some will get the one-parent family payment-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: Yes.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: There is a means test on all of our schemes to ensure that they are targeted. We are examining the means test separately from this issue at the moment. We have increased the thresholds considerably for one-parent family payments and will continue to do so in the coming budget. One-parent families will be a focus.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: I am not in a position to go into individual cases. Each individual case will be different, depending on the circumstances so I cannot give the Deputy a general ruling today but we have tried-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: We have tried in recent years to expand the income disregards for the one-parent family payment and that is something I am very focused on continuing to do during my time as Minister.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: The one-parent family payment is there so the Deputy cannot make a general remark to the effect that there is no payment. We have supports through the one-parent family payment and through other schemes in the Department.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: There are other payments-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: There are other payments available. As I said, it is important to say that we are not taking it from existing claimants and there are other payments and supports available that were not available at the time when this was implemented back in 1996.
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: I thank Deputies O'Reilly and Wall. What we are trying to do here is to address an anomaly and ensure equality of treatment. To ensure equality of treatment in the case of a married couple who separate, a similar rule is going to apply to a relationship of qualified cohabitation. If the rules were left as they are, cohabiting couples would continue to be treated differently from separated...
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: Not today. I always try to take on board points. I genuinely take on board anything that is coming but we have been through this with the Office of the Attorney General and we have been trying to keep consistency with regard to the anomalies highlighted in the judgment in the first place and correct them across the schemes. If we were to proceed without making these changes there would be...
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: We had a very good meeting with Treoir and FLAC. We were not able to come to agreement with FLAC on it. I will not commit to a formal meeting, as we want to get the Bill passed before the summer recess, but we will engage with them again. We had a very long meeting with them. It was a good meeting but I would be telling Deputy O'Reilly a lie if I said I thought there was prospect of...
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 6: In page 5, lines 25 and 26, to delete "Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension) Act 2025" and substitute "Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2025".
- Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)
Dara Calleary: I am not in a position to accept these amendments. They would remove the ability of the Minister of the day to make a regulation relating to clarifying circumstances where a couple may have lived apart for more than two years due to medical circumstances. This definition is linked to the regulation-making power inserted into section 123A of the Act for the Minister of the day to consider...