Results 21,861-21,880 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (3 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The one-parent family payment (OFP) is a payment for both men and women aged under 66 years who are bringing up a child or children without the support of a partner. To qualify for an OFP payment a person must meet the conditions of the scheme as set down in legislation and they must satisfy a means test. The OFP overpayment in this instance occurred due to an increase in the means of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Poverty Data (3 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The latest CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) results for 2015 show that the consistent poverty rate, for people in households headed by a person who was unable to work due to illness or a disability, was 22.4% in 2015. This compared to 14.4% the year before. The at-risk-of-poverty rate increased from 25.2% to 34.8% and basic deprivation rose from 51.3% to 53.2% for this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud Data (3 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 to 201, inclusive, together. The Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State. In 2016, some 1.7 million applications for benefit, assistance and access to schemes were received and processed and over 82 million individual payments were made to people across all age groups and to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (3 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Social welfare legislation provides that, for means testing purposes, rental income received by a claimant and his or her spouse/partner where it derived from a property other than the family home is not assessed. However, the yearly value of such a second property is assessed on a notional basis based on the market value of the property less any outstanding mortgage. This reflects the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Offices (3 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy will be aware that I discussed this matter at the meeting with the local Oireachtas Members and Councillors from the Ballybay - Clones Municipal District on Wednesday 5thOctober 2016.It is not proposed to open an Intreo Centre or government building in Ballybay, or to relocate one of the Department’s agencies there. I continue, however, to be fully supportive of any...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (3 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that my Department received an application for carer’s allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 22 November 2016. The application was referred to a local social welfare inspector (SWI) on 23 January 2017 to assess the level of care being provided, assess means and confirm that all the conditions for receipt of carer’s allowance are satisfied. Once the SWI has...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (3 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There have been no payments made by my Department, or by any public body under the aegis of my Department, to the person during the period in question.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Benefit Eligibility (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Jobseeker’s Benefit has a number of qualifying criteria and payment is based on the social insurance record of the customer. Medical history is not a determining factor if a customer has declared that he/she fulfils the condition of being fit for work. The person concerned was in receipt of the maximum rate of Jobseeker’s Benefit based on her social insurance record. Her benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Public Sector Staff Retirements (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Community Employment (CE) is a non-statutory scheme put in place to support persons who are long-term unemployed and other vulnerable groups to gain the confidence and skills to re-enter the labour market. Schemes are sponsored by local community and voluntary groups who provide valuable support services to local communities. These sponsoring organisations employ supervisory staff to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit Data (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Maternity Benefit is a payment made for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed pregnant women who satisfy certain pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions in order to avoid the need for them to work pre and post-delivery of their baby. The original scheme was introduced in 1970 and was extended to include self-employed mothers with effect from June 1997. It is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: JobPath is an approach to employment activation that will support people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. While customers are participating with JobPath they receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment and to assist them in finding jobs. Each person is assigned...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Payments (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department currently makes a block payment to the CIÉ Group. The apportionment of that payment between the three constituent companies, Bus Éireann, Bus Átha Cliath and Iarnród Éireann is a matter for determination by CIÉ. A discount of 40% is applied to that payment to reflect fares foregone. In the early years of the free travel scheme surveys of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Non-Contributory) (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department operates a range of means tested social assistance payments, including the State Pension Non-Contributory. Social welfare legislation provides that the means test takes account of the income and assets of the person (and spouse/partner, if applicable) applying for the relevant payment. Social welfare legislation provides for the purposes of the State Pension Non Contributory,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit Data (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Currently there are over 2,800 claims for maternity benefit waiting to be processed. Just over 1,200 of these (approximately 43%) have a leave commencement date of 1stMay 2017 or earlier. Maternity benefit claims are processed in leave commencement date order. The average time to process a paper claim is 6 weeks. Processing claims by leave commencement date order ensures that those whose...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 135 and 136 together. As the economic recovery takes hold and the overall level of unemployment continues to fall, the need to adapt employment programmes such as Community Employment (CE) to the changing circumstances, has become more apparent. With this in mind, my Department undertook an analysis of CE, which also looked at the other employment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 and 138 together. The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in a tabular statement. Recipients of Jobseeker's Allowance, Jobseeker's Benefit and signing for Jobseeker’s Credits by age and specified durations at the end of March 2017 Jobseeker's Allowance Age > 12 months > 36 Months Totals 18 0 0 0 19 967 1 968 20 1,502...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Since 1961, when the State Pension Contributory (SPC) was introduced, the average contributions test has been used in calculating the rate of pension entitlement. Entitlement is banded, with the maximum rate payable to those with a yearly average of 48-52 contributions, and the minimum rate payable to those with a yearly average in the range of 10-14 contributions per year. Although the rate...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (4 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 18thApril 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: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (9 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Where a social welfare claimant is in receipt of maintenance payments from a spouse/partner, housing costs incurred by the social welfare claimant (e.g. rent or mortgage payments and/or home improvement loan) up to a maximum of €95.23 per week may be offset against the maintenance payment, with half the balance of the maintenance being assessed as means. These arrangements ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (9 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the economic recovery takes hold and the overall level of unemployment continues to fall, the need to adapt employment programmes such as Community Employment (CE) to the changing circumstances, has become more apparent. With this in mind, my Department undertook an analysis of CE, which also looked at the other employment programmes. In this context, it is should also be borne in mind...