Results 22,161-22,180 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Expenditure (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 305 and 307 together. The costings sought by the Deputy are detailed in the following tables. Table 1: Cost of increasing the duration of the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance % Increase in Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Cost in 2018, €m 25% increase 12.5 50% increase 17.6 Table 2: Cost of increasing the duration of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Social welfare legislation provides for the carrying out of an Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund every 5 years. The fourth such Review is currently being undertaken by external consultants (KPMG) on behalf of my Department. The Review will project the income and expenditure of the Fund over a 55 year period, taking into account policy, economic and demographic changes since...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Data (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: According to the Eurostat Labour Force Survey, in 2016 there were 170.76 million households in the EU (excluding households composed solely of students or solely of inactive people aged 65 and over). Of these, some 29.49 million households (17.3% of the total) were jobless - that is, no adult in the household was working. For Ireland, the total number of relevant households was...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Advertising Campaigns (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State. In 2016, over 82 million individual payments were made to people across all age groups and to employers. The scale of its operations and expenditure demand that a robust and integrated range of control and anti-fraud measures are in place. Measures to prevent and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Citizen Information Services (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The independence of individual Citizens Information Services (CIS) companies is in no way undermined, or compromised, by its requirements to have appropriate and robust governance arrangements in place, which are compatible with the statutory and financial oversight needs of the Citizens Information Board (CIB) as the funding State body. The countrywide network of 42 local CISs delivers...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Waiting Times (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Department is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. Each scheme area is continuously monitored and reviewed to ensure customers are responded to and claims are processed as quickly as possible. However, the Department has experienced some difficulty in recent times with the maternity benefit scheme, where it has not been possible to process...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (30 May 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. This means that the care recipient requires from another person continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in connection with normal bodily functions or continual...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Data (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Domiciliary care allowance (DCA) is a monthly payment to the parent/guardian of a child, aged under 16 with a disability so severe that the child requires care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be provided to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living, and s/he must be likely to require...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Expenditure (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. The BSCFA is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but to provide assistance towards these costs. The Government has provided €37.4 million for the scheme in 2017. ...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Benefits Payments (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department administers over 70 different schemes and services and it is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. One of the main priorities for the Department is to build on achievements already made to integrate services into a new service delivery model and streamline the applications process for all schemes. In general, there is no delay in...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Data (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am informed that at the end of April there were 35,143 people on the live register who had indicated that their occupation immediately prior to registration for a jobseeker’s payment was in the craft and related occupation sector, relevant to the construction industry.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Benefits Data (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the attached tabular statement. Recipients of Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit at the end of April in each of the years 2014 to 2017 Age 2014 2015 2016 2017 18 3,333 3,103 2,594 2,074 19 5,965 5,116 4,375 3,485 20 6,630 5,443 4,480 3,734 21 6,757 5,382 4,518 3,530 22 7,416 5,430 4,315 3,480 23...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Internationally, as well as in Ireland, Defined Benefit (DB) schemes have been facing increased difficulties over the last two decades. This has been due to volatility in the stock markets, increasing liabilities arising from the demographic pressures of increasing life expectancy, low interest rates and regulatory requirements. Essentially the cost of providing benefits has increased at a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit Applications (30 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Maternity benefit section is currently experiencing some difficulty with processing all claims in advance of their maternity leave commencement date. Corrective actions have been taken and progress is being made. However, there are still a number of mothers that will receive their first payment up to 3 to 4 weeks after they commence their maternity leave. The number has reduced to 700 at...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Fraud Cost (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has compiled and published data and reports on its control, compliance and anti-fraud work annually for a number of years. The calculations used are well grounded and underpinned by a recognised methodology. They are a performance management metric used to monitor the progress of control, compliance and anti-fraud work in my Department. The overall metric consists of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Fraud Cost (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy knows, we will have a chance to discuss this issue tomorrow at the committee. I do not disagree with him. If publicised lists make sense in dealing with this type of fraud and crime, why would it not also make sense in dealing with others? This campaign and the additional measures we propose to take are all designed to deter people from engaging in welfare fraud in the first...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Fraud Cost (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, I accept that. My Department gave inaccurate figures. The level of suspected identity fraud is, in fact, 11 times higher than the figures we incorrectly gave to the House the other day. I will give them again. There have been 11 cases so far this year. There were 46 last year, 54 the year before and 29 the year before that, which gives a total of 140 in the past three and a half...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Fraud Cost (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: What we will discuss tomorrow are the heads of a Bill. We will have a chance to go through the issue in more detail then. The intention is that the list would be published on a quarterly basis after the convictions have been secured but would not appear on the website in perpetuity, that it would be taken down after a period. As is the case with any information in the public domain, of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Notwithstanding the ongoing campaign for the leadership of Fine Gael, I have fulfilled my parliamentary duties in full. I am here today and will be here later to take a Topical Issue. I will be at a committee tomorrow.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I will indeed. I have not missed a single parliamentary or Cabinet duty since the Taoiseach announced he was stepping down as leader.