Results 1,441-1,460 of 16,601 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: A newborn or adopted child grant of €280 was announced in Budget 2025 to be paid to families of babies born or children with a date of placement on or after 1st December 2024. This grant is paid in addition to their regular first month’s Child Benefit payment of €140. The newborn baby or adopted child grant is paid automatically with Child Benefit payments, there is no...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides State Pension payments through the State Pension (Contributory), which is a contributory based payment based on a person's social insurance record and the State Pension (Non-Contributory) which is means-tested social assistance payment. A State pension (contributory) recipient can claim an increase on their pension in respect of a qualified adult where the eligibility...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Data Protection (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department received a copy of the Data Protection Commission’s (DPC) final decision on the processing of biometric templates in connection with the SAFE registration process on 9th June 2025. The biometric template created by my Department, as part of the SAFE identity authentication process, is not stored on an individual’s PSC and is not shared with any other...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance is a means tested payment for people who are aged between 16 and 66 with an injury, disease or disability that has continued, or may be expected to continue, for at least one year and, as a result of this disability, the person is substantially restricted in undertaking work that would otherwise be suitable. The payment is subject to a medical assessment, a means test...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly non-means-tested payment of €360 to a parent or guardian for a child aged up to 16 who has a severe disability. The child must require care and attention substantially over and above that required by other children their age. Domiciliary Care Allowance stops being paid when a child reaches 16 years of age. This aligns with the age of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Offices (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The delivery of vital locally based Community Welfare Services 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 (CWS) provides a flexible service to meet the different needs of clients, 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: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Self-employed contributors pay class S PRSI at a rate of 4.1%. This is 11.15 percentage points lower than the combined employer and employee contribution of 15.25% made in respect of employed contributors. However, self-employed contributors do have access to over 90% of benefits available to employed contributors. The Programme for Government includes an action to explore the option of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Communications (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Criminal Assets Bureau exists as an independent corporate body as provided for under section 3 of the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996.Section 8 of the CAB Act provides for the appointment of officers of the Bureau from An Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection who operate in an inter-agency and multi-disciplinary structure within the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 344 together. A person, including a child, who is visually impaired and who meets the medical conditions for Blind Pension, or alternatively is registered as blind with Vision Ireland or the League of the Blind of Ireland, can qualify for a Free Travel Companion pass. A Companion Free Travel Card entitles the holder to have any one person, aged 16...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Wage Subsidy Scheme is a key disability employment support. It aims to encourage employers to offer substantial and sustainable employment to people with disabilities through a subsidy.Last year, my Department published a review of the Wage Subsidy Scheme, following a public consultation, to make the scheme more flexible and effective. The review made six recommendations, including to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Primary weekly social welfare payments are intended to enable recipients to meet their basic day-to-day income needs. In addition to these primary payments, my Department also provides a range of other payments on a weekly, monthly, or less frequent basis. These payments are considered secondary in nature and cannot be made available to those who are not in receipt of a primary payment.The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Official Engagements (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My department is committed to hosting the Annual Carers’ Forum. The purpose of the Forum is to provide carers with a voice at policy level. It also provides an opportunity for engagement between officials and people experiencing care issues first-hand.I was delighted to attend and present at this year’s Annual Carers’ Forum held on 28 May and the opportunity it gave me...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Improving the lives of disabled people is a priority for the Government. A key element of this is to provide pathways to employment, and the Wage Subsidy Scheme facilitates this by encouraging employers to employ people with a disability through a subsidy.The Deputy may be aware that at the recent launch of the updated Wage Subsidy Scheme I was joined by An Taoiseach and also by my...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of persons in receipt of Carer's Allowance at year end for each of the past 10 years is shown below, along with number of persons in receipt as of the end of May 2025: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 End of May 2025 63,003 70,459 75,264 79,914...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Communications (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department has longstanding direct contact arrangements in place for Deputies. The Department provides a dedicated TD enquiry line and mailbox for each of the main schemes where Deputies can raise specific queries for their constituents directly with the relevant scheme area by phone or email. The enquiry lines and mailboxes are monitored daily to ensure an efficient and effective...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit is a payment for people whose first day of unemployment is on or after 31 March 2025 and who have sufficient pay-related social insurance (PRSI) contributions. An individual's rate of payment is directly linked to their previous earnings subject to a maximum or minimum rate. If they have 5 or more years of contributions, their payment will be 60% of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Foster carers play an essential role in our care system, and I am committed to supporting them.A key role for my department is to provide income support to families with children in the State. Where a child is being cared for by someone other than their parents, the person looking after the child may apply for a guardian's payment.Guardian’s payment (contributory) and Guardian's...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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 19th birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. As a universal payment, Child Benefit assists parents with the cost associated with raising children and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of people who have availed of Parent’s Benefit in each of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 is set out in the table below, along with breakdown by gender: Year Parent's Benefit Claims Awarded Female Male 2022 60,178 39,751 20,427 2023 62,883 40,135 22,748 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Illness benefit is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance.Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class. The person must have made the required number of contributions under class A, E, H or P to qualify. In general, self-employed...