Results 1,061-1,080 of 16,601 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a service of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. When a case is assigned to an Appeals Officer, he or she will examine the documentary evidence presented and consider if the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 588 to 590, inclusive, together. Child Benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their nineteenth birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Expenditure on the scheme is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The information requested by the Deputy on the rate of consistent child poverty from 2005 to 2024 is set out in tabular form below: Consistent poverty (0-17 years)* SILC 2004-2019 2004 9.2% 2005 10.8% 2006 10.5% 2007 7.4% 2008 6.2% ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Neither my Department nor the Pensions Authority receive data returns from scheme providers in relation to unclaimed private pension assets. Data in relation to unclaimed pots is currently only available directly from providers. Having said that, in November 2023, the Pensions Authority, at the request of the then Minister for Finance, obtained information from a selection of pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes. Disability Allowance is a means tested social assistance scheme, which is also subject to a medical assessment and habitual residency...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) is a tax free monthly payment of €600 (from 1 June 2025) available to people who are providing accommodation to a person or people who arrived in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive since March 2022. There are a number of conditions that must be satisfied for ongoing receipt of ARP and one of those conditions is that the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned is self-employed. He is not eligible for Illness Benefit, as only those who pay PRSI A, H, E or P class contributions qualify for Illness Benefit. Those who are self-employed pay PRSI S class contributions. He has made a claim for Disability Allowance. This claim has yet to be decided. He applied for Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA). This is being paid to him...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, administered by my Department through the local Community Welfare Services (CWS), was activated on Thursday 23 January 2025 to assist householders affected across the country by Storm Éowyn. The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS) is operated in 3 stages. The majority of payments made to people to date as a result of Storm Éowyn have been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a service of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme offers support for people who are long-term unemployed and who are interested in self-employment as a route to entering the labour market. The scheme supports people in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment to develop a business while allowing them to retain a reducing proportion of their payment over two years. The Government has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 599 and 600 together. Fish Assist is a form of Jobseekers Allowance. A self-employed fisherman or woman on a low income may apply for Fish Assist which, in itself, is not a separate scheme but falls under the jobseeker's allowance (JA) scheme. To enable the accurate enumeration of recipients of Fish Assist, the Department uses a unique administrative code...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Carer’s Support Grant (CSG) is an annual payment made to full-time carers who satisfy certain conditions. I can confirm that my Department received an application for CSG from the person concerned on 28 May 2025. I can confirm that the person has been awarded the CSG payment for the year 2025. Payment of €2,000 will issue to the person's nominated bank account on 10...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Seniors Alert Scheme helps older people to remain in their communities through the provision of personal monitored alarms, enabling them to live securely in their homes with confidence, independence and peace of mind. Funding is available under the scheme towards the purchase, by a registered community-based organisation, of a personal alarm or pendant. Since the scheme was launched in...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 929 and 930 together. Since my Department’s establishment in July 2017 it has incurred the type of expenditure referred to by the Deputy on only 3 occasions. Each of these were events that were broadcast live. The services were procured on a once-off basis each time. There has been no other expenditure relating to the areas highlighted by the Deputy....

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Advertising (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The majority of advertising campaigns undertaken by my Department relate to public consultation processes and notifications to the public. These usually involve public information notices in print media. These are required to ensure awareness and engagement on the issues in question, and required expenditure is kept to a minimum. My Department has also undertaken some public awareness...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Since its establishment in 2017 no such training has been organised for anyone in my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department was established in 2017. The information requested by the Deputy is in the table below. Year Name of Consultancy firm Nature of Contract Amount including VAT 2019 The Reputations Agency Marketing/Branding for the Big Hello/National Community Weekend 2019 €62,249 2020 DHR...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department includes all payments over €20,000 for goods, services and works procured and paid by the Department in the reports referred to by the Deputy. In 2023 there were a total of 820 payments for goods, services and works which were below the €20,000 threshold, with a total value of €715,379. The vast majority of the Department's voted expenditure is utilised...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Care (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department’s mission is to promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland. A number of programmes and funding streams from my department support services and activities for older people with a proportion of these services delivered in community facilities all over Ireland. My Department's Social...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Funding (8 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: There are a number of schemes within my Department for which funding may be available to support the type of project referred to within the Deputy’s correspondence i.e. improved access to a facility. The schemes include LEADER, the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) and the CLÁR Programme. The LEADER programme has for many years supported community facilities, and improved...