Results 20,081-20,100 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Government is aware of the challenges facing community and voluntary organisations and I was delighted to secure €20 million in funding under Budget 2023 to continue the Community Centres Investment Fund. This builds on the €15 million which was announced under the fund in 2022. The huge interest in this fund shows how important community centres are for communities...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has provided a range of supports which both Men's and Women’s Sheds have availed of, depending on the works being completed. For example, in 2018 the Community Enhancement Programme provided capital funding for community groups which included €0.5m that was ring-fenced for Men's Sheds and again in 2019, €0.5m was ring-fenced under the programme for both...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Our Rural Future, Ireland’s Rural Development Policy was launched in early 2021. The policy recognises the opportunity for rural rejuvenation that remote working presents and commits to establishing a comprehensive and integrated national network of 400 remote working hubs by 2025. In furtherance of this commitment, my Department’s focus to date has been on strategically...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: 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. I can confirm that my department received an application for disability allowance (DA) from...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The purpose of the Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) is to assist people with essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The ENP scheme is demand led and payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Welfare Service (CWS) is committed to providing a quality service to all citizens, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Approximately 70% of Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) applications are processed within four weeks. If an application is urgent, every effort is made to ensure the person receives a payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Working Family Payment (WFP), formerly Family Income Supplement, is a weekly in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. To qualify for Working Family Payment the customer must be working a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight in ongoing insurable employment and have at least 1 qualified child who normally resides with them. An application...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme is the safety net within the overall Social Welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. Supports provided under the SWA scheme can consist of a basic weekly payment, a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of certain expenses, as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Carers 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. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 21 October 2022. It is a condition for receipt of CA that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Birth Certificates (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Part 3 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, as amended, sets out the requirements for the registration of births. Section 19 of the Act sets out the duties on parents (or others in the absence of the parents) to register a birth. The requirements are that parents, within three months of the date of birth, attend before a registrar to provide the required particulars of the birth and to sign...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Enhanced Illness Benefit (EIB) was a form of Illness Benefit that is payable to self-employed persons or an employee who is told to self-isolate or has been diagnosed with Covid-19. The enhanced rate of Illness Benefit came to an end on Friday 30 September 2022. It is important to note that a person may have received Enhanced Illness Benefit on more than one occasion since the payment was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: There are currently 32 Medical Assessors working in my Department. The numbers in situ at the end of 2019 to 2021 inclusive and at the end of November 2022 are outlined below in tabular form. It is intended to run a recruitment competition for Medical Assessors in early 2023 to form a panel from which any future vacancies will be filled. Year People Posts ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I understand my officials have spoken with the Deputy to clarify the information sought in this question. Pension entitlement can only be assessed on the basis of the eligibility conditions applicable on the date an individual reaches State Pension age. A pro-rata State Pension (Contributory) pension for an applicant with mixed insurance can be calculated on an interim TCA basis (with...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: 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. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 15 September 2022. CA was awarded on 12 December 2022,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 09 May 2019. According to the records of my department an application for State Pension (contributory) was received on 12 July 2022. The person concerned has a total of 694 reckonable paid and credited social insurance contributions from 14 September 1970 to the end of December 2018. This equates to a yearly average of 14 contributions giving an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: State pension (non-contributory) is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. An application for state pension (non-contributory) was received from the person concerned on 4 August 2022. The case...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Child Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16 and 17 if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves. Child benefit has been awarded to the named person with effect from August 2022. Payment, including arrears, will issue via...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Visa Applications (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I am aware that the UK have very recently lifted the visa requirement on Colombia for short visits and that this arrangement also applies in the Schengen area. The Deputy will also be aware that both the UK and Schengen States intend to introduce in the near future an Electronic Travel Authorisation System for certain non-visa required countries. It is the case that Colombia remains on...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Visa Applications (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I am advised that a number of steps have been taken in recent years to upgrade the visa processing system to make it more efficient and easier for visitors from abroad to submit their visa applications for travel to Ireland; this has included the availability of services provided by VFS Global at their Visa Application Centres (VACs). It is important to state that the services provided by...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Residency Permits (15 Dec 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Applications for the renewal of immigration permissions are dealt with by the Registration Unit of my Department in chronological order that they are received. The current processing times for online renewals is 6 weeks. The online renewal facility was launched in July 2020 to process renewals and there has been approximately 186,000 registrations renewed online since the facility was...