Results 1,021-1,040 of 14,528 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis as a bheith tofa agus ar a leanbh nua i gCill Dara. Comhghairdeas leis féin agus lena bhean chéile agus guím gach rath orthu. A newborn baby grant of €280 was announced in last year's budget to be paid to families of babies born on or after 1 December 2024. This grant is paid alongside, but in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. As I look around, I think that, apart from the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I am the longest serving Deputy in this House, and on every day of those 18 years, I have heard references to trying to make ours a family-friendly Oireachtas, although we seem to be going further away from that. Even so, a lot of work has been done in respect of parental leave for Members of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: No one has an exclusive concern for carers. The last Government did a great deal of work in increasing the income disregard and the carer’s support grant. I intend to engage with all the carers organisations around that. I am very focused on the work they do and the burden they face on a daily basis. There is a commitment in the programme for Government that we will phase out the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy and congratulate him on his election. I look forward to working with him. In November 2023, the Department of Social Protection published a report on the inclusion of long Covid in the occupational injuries benefit regulations. This report concluded that Covid-19 did not satisfy the statutory criteria for recognition as an occupational illness or accident at work....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My own Department has 78 people in receipt of illness benefit with a Covid-related certification. Covid-related claims account for 0.6% of all illness benefit claims that were awarded so far this year. As well as illness benefit, my Department provides an invalidity pension and a disability allowance scheme for those who cannot work due to an illness or disability. That includes those who...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The temporary scheme of paid leave for public health service employees was identified in the report my Department published in November 2023 as the appropriate channel to target specific supports for employees in our health services. That scheme is being dealt with by the Minister for public expenditure. He has extended it. I will bring the Deputy’s concerns to him about its future...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy and congratulate him and welcome him back to the House. Carer’s allowance is an important income support for people who have caring responsibilities. That is clear from the fact that there are nearly 99,000 people in receipt of the payment and expenditure on the scheme in 2025 is estimated to be over €1.24 billion. In common with other welfare payments...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Widow's Pension (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I do not have that specific figure but I will seek to provide it to the Deputy. The analysis carried out by my Department anticipates that there will be 500 new cohabitant recipients expected annually in the initial years, with an annualised cost of approximately €50 million. It is difficult to predict those numbers with certainty. It is the Department's intention, once we have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Widow's Pension (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I do not want to create an expectation that the Department will not be able to meet. While I understand where people are at, our hands our tied to the 22 January 2024 judgment date. However, there are other supports that we may be in a position to make available to families in this situation and we will look at those. However, in relation to the specific payment and backdating, I am...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The carer’s allowance is the main scheme by which my Department provides income support to carers in the community. There are currently 98,311 people in receipt of carer's allowance. Expenditure on the scheme in 2025 is estimated at over €1.24 billion. The primary objective of the carer's allowance payment is to provide an income support to people whose earning capacity is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: We have been clear that we will increase the income disregards for carer's allowance in each budget. It is our intention to phase out the means test during the lifetime of this Government. We were clear on that in the programme for Government and I am clear on it as Minister for Social Protection. I value the work of carers, which is incredibly important, but I would be wrong to say we...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Widow's Pension (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I congratulate the Deputy on her new role and wish her well. I look forward to working with all Deputies in my role in the Department of Social Protection. 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. However, as...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Widow's Pension (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I absolutely agree that grief does not distinguish, including in the circumstances we are discussing. 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 death of his or her partner. It is also proposed that the claims will be backdated to the date of the judgment, which is 22 January 2024, that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Widow's Pension (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I would not like to create an expectation. I want to be very careful. People are going through enough without me creating false expectations. We will look at the kinds of cases involved and the figures to see whether there is some way forward. I do not have any flexibility regarding the date of backdating, which is the date of the judgment. However, I want to try to be flexible. People...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Widow's Pension (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I congratulate the Deputy on his election to this House. I look forward to working with him. The State has always distinguished in a number of its laws between the rights of couples whose relationship is formalised in a marriage or civil partnership and the rights of other couples whose relationship is not formally registered. There was a backdrop to that in regard to succession,...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Domestic Pets (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Senator for his good wishes and return them to him on his election to this House. The Control of Dogs (XL Bully) Regulations 2024, SI 491 of 2024, which provided for the banning of XL bully-type dogs, came into force in two stages, beginning on 1 October 2024 last, with a full ownership ban coming into force on 1 February this year. The ban was brought in over two stages to give...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Domestic Pets (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I acknowledge that the Senator has a long track record of working in this space. As he will be aware, we have set out that we are going to provide for an enhanced approach to dog control issues. As I said, all legislation and policy relating to the control of dogs, dog welfare and dog breeding establishments will rest with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We are...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Domestic Pets (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The dog owner is as well. The responsibility for a dog is on the owner. We cannot forget that.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Civil Registration Service (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Senator for her good wishes and also for bringing this issue to my attention. I know that she raised it previously with the former Minister, Heather Humphreys. For the benefit of other Senators, the background to this is that the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 principally amends and extends the Civil Registration Act 2004. The Act was signed into law on 4 December...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Civil Registration Service (27 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I will continue to keep the Senator updated on the issue. However, I reassure her that the number of birth registrations that do not contain a father's name is still very low. It is our view as a Government that, where possible, all children should have the right to know the details of both their parents.In that context, I remind the Senator that a new section will allow for circumstances...