Results 20,781-20,800 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Other Questions: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: FIS is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings who have children. FIS is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low-paid workers with child dependants and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment. In excess of 57,000 families with more than 127,000 children are in receipt of FIS. The estimated spend on FIS this year is approximately...

Other Questions: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I was not aware the Deputy was going to raise a particular issue around the Part 8 form and it was not in his original question. Accordingly, I am not in a position to answer directly today. However, we are obviously going to need some sort of mechanism to find out how many hours somebody worked. That is the basis to the payment. The Deputy suggested we replace the Part 8 form. With what...

Other Questions: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I will certainly take that into consideration as part of any changes we are going to make. Like I said, however, I am not entirely clear as to why an employer would refuse to fill out this form. Expenditure on FIS in 2000 was €39 million. It went up to €186 million in 2010 and will probably hit €413 million in 2016. This has been a significant expansion in the number...

Other Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 53 together. The State pension is a valuable benefit and is the bedrock of the pension system. There are two State pensions. First, the State pension non-contributory is a means-tested pension funded from taxation. Second, the State pension contributory, which is not means-tested and is paid from the Social Insurance Fund. Accordingly, it is...

Other Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There are a couple of points. If someone was a partner in a business, it should be easy enough to establish whether that person paid PRSI. If an individual did not pay PRSI, he or she is not entitled to a contributory pension. People do not get contributory pensions unless they pay PRSI. That is how a contributory pension works. It should be easy enough to establish their record if they...

Other Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: We have various possible costings and projections but I would have to know exactly which anomaly the Deputy is referring to because there are a number of things that people describe as anomalies in the pension system. With regard to partnerships, unless I misunderstand Deputy Durkan, it is not a case of proving whether a partnership existed, it is a question of proving that somebody made...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy is aware, community employment, CE, aims to help long-term unemployed people to re-enter the workforce by breaking their cycle of unemployment through a return to a regular work routine. To this end, CE also provides training and development to participants. I am very conscious of the valuable role that CE schemes play in the provision of services to individuals and...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Deputy Griffin for raising this question at what is a very timely moment. What we have seen in recent years is a big expansion in the number of schemes. In addition to the extra CE schemes, Tús was added, Gateway was added on to that, JobBridge was added on to that and we now have JobPath as well. At the same time, we have seen a massive reduction in unemployment, which means...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Deputy Penrose is correct. I am particularly looking out for schemes that provide important services locally, for example, cutting the grass in clubs and meals on wheels and in other areas where I do not want to see service provision damaged. I encourage supervisors to consider people who are harder to reach or who find it hard to take part in these schemes. Very good and qualified people...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 55 and 62 together. The Government is committed to encouraging self-employment and entrepreneurship. This includes enhancing the position of the self-employed through a supportive tax regime and, very importantly, improving the level of PRSI-based benefits available to self-employed people. This has been one of my key priorities since becoming Minister...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for raising the important issue of the self-employed. This is a real priority for me, having been self-employed myself. My dad and my grandad were too. I always said if I was ever in this position, I would try to do something about it. Sometimes, though, self-employed people are unaware of what they are entitled to. I hear self-employed people all the time saying...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Many of these different matters must be figured out. It is not straightforward. We must also take into account that at the moment we give the self-employed all these benefits for a contribution of 4%. An employee pays 4% and his or her employer pays 10.75% on his or her behalf for these benefits. Therefore, for every self-employed person earning €100, the Social Insurance Fund gets...

Other Questions: Farm Assist Scheme Administration (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am happy to confirm that, following the Government agreement on budget 2017, the total reversal of cuts to farm assist is now underway. Deputies will be aware that the programme helps more than 8,000 farm families across the country. The commitment given in A Programme for a Partnership Government, as part of the Government's commitment to rural Ireland, was to complete a review of the...

Other Questions: Farm Assist Scheme Administration (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: That is certainly the intention. It will vary from one case to another. In some cases the uplift people see could be very modest; it could be as little as €5 or €10 per week. In other cases it will be as much as €40 per week. In any case, that is what we have in train to do over the next couple of weeks, and all the different offices are gearing up to do this. Anyone...

Other Questions: Pensions Reform (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Our pension system was set up over a century ago to provide an adequate and sustainable standard of living, and to prevent an unwanted reduction in living standards when people retire. As the Deputy will be aware, there are a number of challenges currently facing the Irish pensions system, including the sustainability of the system over the longer term in light of demographic change, rising...

Other Questions: Pensions Reform (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, I have, and as I committed to Deputy Curran and others, we will bring forward detailed options and proposals for change with the associated costings to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection. If we move from the averaging approach to the total contributions approach, the homemaker credit scheme has to change because the basis on which it exists changes. The intention would...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Equality Issues (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My colleague the Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation has responsibility for legislation and regulation in relation to statutory minimum wage levels and to conditions of employment. However, I can say that it is not accurate to suggest that part-time work has been an important element in recent employment growth. In the four years ending in the third quarter of 2016, employment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Government policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. First, through policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, to create an environment in which business can succeed and create jobs and second, through Pathways to Work to ensure that as many of these new jobs and other vacancies that arise in our economy are filled by people taken from the Live Register, including people over 50 years of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The majority of people in receipt of a payment from the Department of Social Protection receive what they are entitled to be paid. Nevertheless, my Department recognises that abuse of the welfare system is an ongoing reality and must be tackled. Anti-fraud measures are set out in the Department’s Compliance and Anti-Fraud Strategy 2014 – 2018 and are designed to prevent and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (24 Jan 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme can consist of a basic weekly payment and/or a weekly/monthly supplement in respect of certain expenses, including rent, as well as single exceptional needs payments (ENPs) and urgent needs payments (UNPs). Some €378 million has been provided for the SWA scheme in 2017 including €31.5 million for ENPs & UNPs. The SWA...