Results 1,161-1,180 of 15,442 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Projects (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department of Social Protection receives EU Funding under the following EU programmes. The current programme is the European Social Fund Plus Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training Programme (ESF+EIST 2021-2027) which is a cross-Government programme managed by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science. The Department has four schemes within...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise because of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended). Customers who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled. The Department has a central debt unit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The delivery of vital locally based Community Welfare Services (CWS) to meet the challenges and the needs of citizens across the country is a priority for me and for my Department. The Community Welfare Service provides a flexible service to meet the different needs of people, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is a priority that this service is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Strategies (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: A national Youth Homelessness Strategy was published in November 2022 and aims to help young people aged 18 - 24 years who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. My department is represented on the Youth Homelessness Strategy Steering Group and is responsible for delivering on Action 25 of the Youth Homelessness Strategy. This action is to “Review work experience, placements,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household resources. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements. The scheme is demand led and payments are made at the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government commits to examining the introduction of a Pay Related Carer’s Benefit for individuals who have to give up work suddenly in order to provide full-time care. In terms of roll-out of Pay-Related Benefits, the Programme for Government also contains a commitment to introduce a Pay-Related Parent’s Benefit. The new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached pension age on 15 January 2025. To be eligible for the standard state pension (contributory) an individual must have at least 520 full-rate contributions. To qualify for a mixed insurance pension, 520 employment contributions are required, of which at least 260 must be full-rate contributions with the remainder made up of modified contributions. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS), administered by my department through the Community Welfare Service (CWS), was activated on 23 January 2025 to assist householders affected across the country by Storm Éowyn. According to the records of the Department, the person concerned applied for a HAS stage 1 payment to assist with the additional costs incurred as a result of Storm...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The CLÁR programme is a targeted investment programme that provides funding for small scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas. Since 2017, almost €1.6 million has been awarded in County Meath for some 43 CLÁR projects . The attached table outlines the projects approved and the amount of CLÁR funding awarded to those projects in Co Meath from 2023 to...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 276 and 278 together. The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports improving rural roads and laneways not usually maintained by local authorities. Since its establishment in 2017, almost €170 million has been provided by the Government to local authorities for LIS. While the Department provides funding for LIS, the scheme is administered by local...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) with the amounts paid to each local authority in each year, for inclusion in their Report on the Accounts of the Public Services. As my Department was established in 2017, I have provided the information for 2017 to 2024 inclusive. I would note that the 2024 figures remain provisional until the OCAG report...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The current LEADER Programme runs to 2027 and is now up and running across the country. It supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups across rural Ireland. A feature of the LEADER programme is that it is based on a community-led, bottom-up...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1370, 1475 and 1476 together. My Department administers the Daily Expenses Allowance on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality and Disability. Under the new Programme for Government, responsibility for international protection accommodation and integration is planned to move to the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. The Daily...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's Benefit is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult in need of full-time care and attention. To qualify, the carer must satisfy PRSI conditions, employment conditions, show that they are providing full-time care and attention and show that the care recipient requires full-time care and attention. An...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Persons who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled. Overpayments of social welfare entitlements can occur where a person provides false or misleading information in their application or through error on the part of either the claimant or the Department. The individual...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions. My Department received correspondence from the person concerned on 12 August 2024...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit is a new social insurance income support which has replaced Jobseeker's Benefit for people who become fully unemployed from 31 March 2025 and who satisfy the conditions for the scheme. Pay-related benefit means that a person's rate of payment will be linked to their previous earnings, subject to maximum and minimum rates. The intention of the Jobseeker's...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Rural Social Scheme (RSS) is an income support scheme that provides part-time employment opportunities for farmers and fishers in receipt of specified social welfare payments, and who are underemployed in their primary occupation. The valuable work undertaken by participants draws on their existing skills which may be further developed and shared throughout their participation. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly allowance payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of that disability is such that the child is likely to require this level...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: In general, medical or health related benefits fall within the remit of the Department of Health and the HSE. However, my Department administers the treatment benefit scheme which provides certain dental, optical, and medical appliances benefits to insured workers, the self-employed and retired people who have the required number of PRSI contributions. These treatments are also available to...