Results 22,221-22,240 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----I will not forget the level of support that I appear to be receiving in the Border counties. To acknowledge the Deputy's question, we want to avoid a situation where people change from one scheme to another. The Deputy can understand all sorts of reasons why that is impractical, whether it is from Tús to community employment, CE, or CE to JobPath, or whatever else. It is not...

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In the first instance, people should contact their local Intreo centre. If it has not worked out for some reason or if there was a dispute, the Deputy may raise it directly with my private secretary and my office will certainly look into it.

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Entitlement levels to the contributory State pension are calculated by means of a yearly average calculation, where the total contributions paid or credited are divided by the number of years of the working life. Payment rates are banded to reflect a person’s contribution history. Volunteer development workers who work abroad in developing countries are exempt from paying social...

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The scheme was introduced in 1994 by the then Minister, former Deputy Michael Woods, and was a very progressive measure at the time. I imagine when it was introduced that the decision not to make it retrospective was due to the enormous cost that would arise from doing so. Using €290 million from the social protection budget in any given year would be very difficult. A consequent...

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I take the Deputy's point and understand the arguments he is making. I have a degree of sympathy for them. The difficulty with any programme the Government brings in is that, if it is made retrospective, the cost of doing implementing it can make it prohibitive, and decisions made in 1994 and 1983 were not to make them retrospective, precisely for that reason. The cost would have been so...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The 2015 Defence White Paper committed the Government to introducing a new employment support scheme with the direct involvement of the Defence Forces. The Department of Defence has responsibility for the scheme. Initial discussions with officials from my Department focused on clarifying the objectives of the scheme. The scheme is targeted at young jobseekers experiencing barriers to...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I owe the Deputy an apology in answering this question because it is not a programme that I am personally familiar with. It arose out of the 2015 Defence White Paper, which would have been a White Paper produced by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and obviously, the pilot would have occurred and been developed under my predecessor in this Department, the former Minister, Deputy...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As I mentioned, it arises from the White Paper on Defence in 2015. I understand it is based on a programme from New Zealand. It is entirely voluntary. There are no penalties imposed for non-participation in the scheme. It is a ten-week training programme. Essentially, it involves five weeks of training delivered by the Defence Forces and then five weeks of education and training, which...

Topical Issue Debate: Employment Rights (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I want to correct something I said earlier. I mentioned that I would be at the joint committee tomorrow but I will not be. That particular matter is being handled by officials but I will be in the House. I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has not made any changes recently to the arrangements that apply to seasonal workers and part-time workers who need to access social...

Topical Issue Debate: Employment Rights (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I am almost finished. Where a person has been working in his or her usual employment and also working in a second employment, the second employment could only be considered subsidiary if the above conditions are satisfied. I gave a commitment on Report Stage of the Social Welfare Bill 2016 in the Dáil that I would ask my officials to examine the issue of jobseeker's benefit and the...

Topical Issue Debate: Employment Rights (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge that was a rather convoluted reply setting out the rules as they are, which was not quite what the Deputy asked me about, He asked about the review. I do not know when the review started but it has been under way for some time. It would have been some time after the Social Welfare Bill passed through the Dáil. It probably started some time earlier this year. I met a...

Topical Issue Debate: Employment Rights (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----I do not know whether that was the case or not. We are doing the work on the review. The key issue is to have it done well before the next budget. We want to have it done before the summer so that we can see what the options are and what they will cost with a view to making some changes in the budget to be then implemented in the Social Welfare Bill before the end of the year, but we...

Topical Issue Debate: Employment Rights (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In which case we will do it but if is costs hundreds of millions of euro, it might be a problem.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Payments (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 and 68 together. The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but to provide assistance to parents...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I would like thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Total overpayments raised by my Department in 2016 amounted to €110 million. Of this, customer fraud amounted to €41 million. Cases of this nature arise where a customer intentionally provides incomplete or inaccurate information in order to receive benefits or deliberately fails to inform the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Programmes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 41, 46 and 94 together. Community Employment (CE) and Tús are active labour market programmes with the emphasis on progression into employment and/or further education and training. Participation limits on these schemes are necessary to allow for the utilisation of places amongst qualifying persons to ensure the benefits of these schemes are...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Administration (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In the context of the falling Live Register and the continuing economic recovery, my Department undertook a review of the work programmes. The outcome of the review made various recommendations in relation to how work programmes, including Community Employment (CE) operate, as well as the overall number of places available. In this context, I have decided to progress some changes to the CE...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Information (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Department of Social Protection serves a wide and diverse group of customers including families, people in employment, unemployed people, people with illnesses and disabilities, carers and older people. In more recent times, my Department has expanded its remit to provide a range of services to employers. My Department is continuously engaging with this broad customer base to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Overpayments of entitlement are a feature of all social protection and assistance systems. This reflects the dynamic nature of the changing eligibility and entitlements of persons in receipt of payments. Significant information system developments, including the sharing of information between agencies, have been implemented in recent years to enhance the timeliness and quality of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Administration (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 45 and 97 together. The annual budget provided to Community Employment (CE) schemes includes an amount to cover consumable services and materials, including insurance, necessary for the effective operation of the project. My Department has become aware in recent times of an increase in insurance premiums for CE schemes. The main reasons cited for this is an...