Results 2,381-2,400 of 4,411 for speaker:Claire Kerrane

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: 133. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has any plans to dispose of a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4975/23]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (2 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: 339. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if foster parents can avail of parental leave and benefit or parental leave where a newborn baby or child under stage age of two years is placed with a foster parent or family; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5478/23]

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: I thank the Minister, the Minister of State and their officials for attending. The work of the Pensions Commission is obviously very important. It has made a recommendation on the abolition of mandatory retirement. Will the Minister introduce legislation in that regard? I agree with Deputy Ó Cuív's comments on the means test and the €20,000 amount really needs to...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: The exceptional needs payments have obviously been really important last year and this year. Additional staff were to be taken on by the Department. Will the Minister give us an update on those additional staff? Is it possible to apply for exceptional needs payments and additional needs payments online? This is something I raised with the Minister last year. It would be helpful to a...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: I welcome the review of the RSS. I presume there will be widespread consultation on it because that would be really important. It is the people on the ground who are well placed when it comes to a review of the scheme. Could the Minister provide us with an update on the ongoing issues involving the pay and conditions of CE supervisors and assistant supervisors? This has been a...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: Will there be a review of JobPath because €322 million has been spent on it? If we take the figures just given by the Minister, 32,000 people are still active on it. That means that 318,488 people completed the programme and of that figure, 29,000 have a job that lasted a year. Those 318,488 people have finished, of which 29,000 have a job, so you are looking at a success rate of...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: To come back on the straw man in relation to disability and those additional payments that have been discussed, has the Minister any timeline for that work and when she hopes to have it completed? Are we looking towards the next budget or after it? Particularly when it comes to the cost of disability and the introduction of such a payment, it would be helpful to know what kind of timeline...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: Will the Minister confirm whether the Department is looking at the means test for carer's allowance? Will that be done? We all agree there is an issue in relation to the means test and it has been raised by the organisations many times.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: I will be very brief. I welcome the changes that have been made to the fuel allowance for the over-70s. They are really positive and will help an awful lot of people. As regards the processing, a few people who had their applications in have not yet heard anything. I appreciate that many applications have been made and that everyone will get it where they are supposed to get it; that is...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 42 – Rural and Community Development and the Islands (Further Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: The local improvement scheme, LIS, has been important in many rural areas, including the Minister's, mine and those of other members. Will the Minister provide an update on efforts to secure an allocation to the LIS from the Department of Transport? That would make perfect sense to many of us. Work was under way in the Department of Rural and Community Development to identify the number of...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 42 – Rural and Community Development and the Islands (Further Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: Is the Minister aware of sheds outside of the association? I was not but I have been made aware of this. This is to make sure every shed will get that funding because it is so important.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: I thank the witnesses for coming in and for their opening statements and submissions. They have examined this in great detail so I thank them for that. A number of my questions have been asked and, therefore, I will not repeat them. In her opening statement, Ms Murdock referred to the significant input from taxpayers. We are in a situation now, particularly for young people starting out,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Welfare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: 1. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide an update on the processing of additional needs’ payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6031/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Welfare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: I ask the Minister to provide an update on the processing of additional needs payments. These payments are typically made in emergency situations to people who are struggling financially. It is clear that processing times have reduced and I imagine they have reduced significantly which is welcome and important. Will the Minister please provide an update on processing times at the moment?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Welfare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: The Minister's update and the two-week processing time are welcome. In September I received a reply to a parliamentary question stating that 95% of applications were taking between five and eight weeks to be processed. I appreciate CWOs are stepping in where they can and where the person in need can access them in the first place, which has become more difficult. I would argue that few...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Welfare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: Last July I suggested that it go online and I welcome that it will. One of the issues the Minister and others have raised, as most Deputies on this side of the House will acknowledge, is that where people make applications and submit supporting documentation that is either not good enough or is needed again, it has delayed their receipt of payments. I acknowledge that. I hope that with the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (9 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: 3. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations made by the child maintenance review group, including the removal of child maintenance as household means for social welfare payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6032/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (9 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: I want to ask the Minister about the implementation of the recommendations from the child maintenance review group, especially the recommendation on the removal of child maintenance being treated as household means when it comes to accessing and retaining social welfare supports. Can the Minister provide us with an update on the legislation and when she expects to bring it to the House? It...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (9 Feb 2023)

Claire Kerrane: Some of what the Minister said regarding what the Department is doing, instructed by her, is really welcome. While the Department is not obliging parents to prove or show proof that they have sought maintenance, in practice is maintenance still being used in meeting the calculation of the lone parent payment? There was no agreement in the review group regarding the possibility of setting...