Results 21,421-21,440 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service Remit (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Citizens Information Board (CIB), which has statutory responsibility for the Money Advice & Budgeting Service (MABS) and the Citizens Information Services (CIS), decided, on 15 February 2017, to restructure the governance arrangements of these services. The Citizens Information Board (CIB) assures me that there will be no job losses, no closure of services, no change to service...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that my Department received an application for carer's allowance from the person concerned on 8 June 2016. It is a condition for receipt of a CA that the carer must be providing full-time care and attention. The person concerned was refused carer's allowance on the grounds that she was not providing full-time care and attention. This is because the care recipient was in care...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Household Benefits Scheme (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The savings arising from the initial reduction and subsequent discontinuance of the telephone allowance meant that my Department was able to retain the other valuable elements of the household benefits package such as the electricity and gas allowance and the television licence. My Department will spend approximately €232 million this year on these elements of the household benefits...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has a disability such that they require that level of care. The person concerned was awarded CA from 31 January 2008. CA claims are periodically reviewed to ensure continued entitlement. When her claim was reviewed in 2013 it was discovered that...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Carer's Allowance (CA) at half-rate is payable to people who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has a disability such that they require that level of care. As it is a requirement for receipt of jobseeker’s allowance (JA) and jobseeker’s benefit (JB) that the person concerned must be available for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Benefit Eligibility (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The carer’s benefit scheme provides income support to full-time carers who leave the workforce temporarily to provide care and thereby assist in maintaining care recipients in the community. This, and other care-related supports, such as the carer’s allowance payment and the carer’s support grant provide recognition and support for the valuable role of carers. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There are two State pensions. Firstly, the State pension non-contributory is a means tested pension. Secondly, the State pension (contributory) is paid from the Social Insurance Fund. Therefore, it is important to ensure that those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working lives. To ensure that the individual can maximise their...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Waiting Times (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average waiting time for new carer's allowance (CA) applications at the end of January 2017 was 11 weeks, compared to 20 weeks in 2016. At the end of January, there were 2,842 CA...

Seanad: Pensions (Equal Pension Treatment in Occupational Benefit Scheme) (Amendment) Bill 2016: Second Stage (22 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on the Bill. The introduction first of civil partnership and then of marriage equality has made a huge difference for many of our fellow citizens. The Bill introduced by Senators Bacik, Humphreys, Nash and Ó Ríordáin seeks to deal with an important legacy issue for a number of couples. I join with Senator Norris in...

Questions on Promised Legislation (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There is a Government commitment to bring about a new deal for the self-employed in Ireland, which includes equalising their tax treatment, providing more supports for entrepreneurs and also extending new social insurance benefits to them, including the extension of the treatment benefit. The commitment is that by the end of the month 500,000 people who are self-employed, including farmers,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The average processing time for carer’s allowance appeals, to the end of February 2017, is 21.9 weeks for appeals requiring an oral hearing, and 19.1 weeks for appeals which were determined by means of a summary decision. Appeal processing times are kept under constant scrutiny by the Chief Appeals Officer and significant effort and resources have been devoted in recent years to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Recruitment (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department, like all Government departments and agencies, is required to operate within a staff ceiling figure and a commensurate administrative staffing budget, which for this Department has involved reductions in staff numbers. Within these constraints, the Department is focusing on prioritising the filling of critical posts. The staffing needs for all areas within the Department,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Data Protection (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of Social Protection is registered as a data controller with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner The Department takes its responsibilities in relation to data protection very seriously. Every effort is made to ensure that personal customer data are used solely for business purposes and that they are not compromised in any way. The Department has data protection...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The aim of the JobPath service, which is provided for long term unemployed jobseekers only, is to assist them in finding sustainable full time paid employment by providing intensive individual support and assistance. The Community Employment schemes (CE) which provides part-time employment and training opportunities in local communities as a stepping stone back to employment for people on a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 15thFebruary 2017. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these papers have been received from the Department, the case in question will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Data (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private transport operators. There are currently approx. 874,000...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Data (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 118 and 119 together. Transport companies are paid on the basis of fares foregone and payments are not made on a per passenger basis. Fares foregone refers to excess or spare capacity an operator might have. These are paid at a reduced rate to take account of travel generated by the Free Travel scheme. My Department currently makes a block payment to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a social assistance payment made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person with a disability requiring that level of care and whose income falls below certain limits. Where the carer and care recipient live apart from each other, it is a condition for receipt of CA that there must be a system of communication between their homes. All of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Citizen Information Services (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Citizens Information Board (CIB), which has statutory responsibility for the Money Advice & Budgeting Service (MABS) and the Citizens Information Services (CIS) decided, on 15th February 2017, to restructure the governance arrangements of these services. The decision was communicated by the Board of CIB to all CIS and MABS Boards and to all staff on the same day. The CIB assures...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (23 Mar 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I understand that the Deputy's question relates to payments to broadcasting organisations. The statutory bodies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Pensions Council, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Social Welfare Tribunal. No payments were made by any of these bodies to broadcasting organisations in 2014, 2015 or 2016. The...