Results 1,161-1,180 of 14,541 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: In order to legally solemnise a marriage in the State a person must be nominated for registration in the Register of Solemnisers. The General Registers Office (GRO) maintains the Register of Solemnisers. To be so registered a person wishing to become a solemniser must be either, a registrar employed by the Health Service Executive, or be a member of a religious or a secular body in Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 573 and 602 together. The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face. The Programme for Government has set out a timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: In August 2024, my Department published a review of the Wage Subsidy Scheme. The review made six recommendations to make the scheme more accessible and flexible for people with disabilities and their employers. The revised scheme will be implemented in the coming weeks. A key recommendation was to expand the scheme to people who acquire a disability or health condition. Employers will be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Increase for Qualified Adult (IQA) allowance is a means-tested payment, payable to a State Pension (contributory) 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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: State Pensions (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached pension age on 17 April 2019. An application for the contributory State Pension was received on 18 February 2019. In general, public servants who joined prior to 6 April 1995 paid modified contributions which are not reckonable for the standard contributory State Pension. However, such employees generally have an occupational pension, the level of which is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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 Appeals (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 13th...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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 Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 581 and 582 together. The purpose of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS) is to prevent hardship by providing financial support to people whose homes are damaged from flooding and/or severe weather events and who are not able to meet costs for essential needs, household items and in some instances structural repairs. The scheme is administered by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 583 and 609 together. The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, administered by my department through the local Community Welfare Service, was activated on the 23rd January 2025 to assist householders across the country affected by Storm Éowyn. The purpose of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is to provide financial support to people whose homes are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Citizens Information Board (CIB) funds and supports eight independent regional Citizen Information Service (CIS) companies, which in turn operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres. It is important to note that each CIS is a limited company governed by a voluntary Board of Directors which make decisions independently on the delivery of services in their regions. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Sector Staff (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a wide range of employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, and their employers. Work and Access is a set of supports to help remove or reduces barriers in the workplace for people with a disability. It is available to the private, community, not-for-profit, and voluntary sectors and the self-employed. This scheme is funded by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Consultations (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department tends to rely on the Attorney General's Office, as the Government's legal adviser, on matters of law. However in 2023, the Department engaged Mason Hayes and Curran for provision of employment legal advice at a cost of €3,893.44. In 2024 the Department engaged the same firm for training on employment law. This cost the Department €1,317.33. No external legal...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. In order to qualify, applicants must show that they are habitually resident in the State, that their means are less than...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The criteria for medical eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) are that a child aged under 16 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 without their disability and the child must be likely to require this level of care for at least 12 consecutive...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 589 and 590 together. The person concerned had been in receipt of Carer's Allowance (CA) from 1999. Following a review of their continuing entitlement to CA in 2016, it was established that there was no entitlement from 17th April 2008 to 29th June 2016 as the care recipient was in employment, had married and had moved away from the family home. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: A breakdown of procurement contracts awarded by my Department is published on the Gov.ie website at gov.ie - Procurement Contracts Awarded . The Department does not compile the information in the format sought by the Deputy. An annual statement of contract modifications is published as part of the Department’s annual appropriation accounts and are available for inspection on the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Procurements are undertaken in accordance with the Public Spending Code and in accordance with the EU Directives. All areas of expenditure are monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure that value for money is being achieved. All contract modifications undergo a rigorous assessment of need, are reviewed by the Department’s Internal Audit Unit and must receive the approval of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: There are, currently, no reciprocal arrangements in place to minimise impacts on social security entitlements of redress payments made under the Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry to persons resident in Republic of Ireland and similarly in respect of redress payments made under comparable schemes in the Republic of Ireland to persons resident in Northern Ireland....