Results 2,601-2,620 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Services Programme (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The organisation referred to by the Deputy is a not-for-profit co-operative society working to promote tourism and arts and crafts in the Inishowen peninsula in county Donegal. The company operates from two offices based in Buncrana and Carndonagh, which open five days per week. The company manages the website , develops packages and marketing material, prints brochures, collates visitors...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Legislation (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 584 and 593 together. There are three main pensions paid by my Department to people over 66, the rates of payment of which vary depending on the scheme and the circumstances of the pensioner. Entitlement levels to the State Pension, contributory (SPC), which is financed by PRSI on a pay-as-you-go basis, are calculated by means of a ‘yearly...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors are employees of private companies in the community and voluntary sector. The State is not responsible for funding pension arrangements for such employees even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding. It is open to individuals to make provision for a pension by way of PRSA which all employers are obliged to facilitate. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: An increase for living alone can be claimed by a person in receipt of pension if they are living alone, or mainly alone. In this case, the person concerned is the qualified adult on their spouse’s state pension (contributory) and is therefore not eligible for this increase. A letter informing the person of this decision was issued on 21 September 2017. Similarly, Fuel Allowance can be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: Increase for a Qualified Adult on a State Pension (contributory) payment is a means tested payment. The person concerned applied for an increase for qualified adult on their state pension (contributory) on 2 August 2017. The increase was awarded with effect from 2 June 2017, as prior to that date the qualified adult was in receipt of state pension (non-contributory) in their own right at a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Family Income Supplement (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Working Family Payment (WFP), formerly known as Family Income Supplement, or FIS, is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings. The WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependants, and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment. There are currently over 57,000 families with more than 127,000 children...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance Fund (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 589 and 590 together. A debt is raised against the employer when a payment is made under the Redundancy and Insolvency Payment scheme from the Social Insurance Fund. The total employer debt to the SIF at 31 December 2016 stood at €462 million. A comprehensive analysis on the trading status of all companies and businesses with a debt to the Social...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: Officials in the Department are currently working on the detailed development of the ‘Total Contribution Approach’ (TCA). It is expected that the TCA will replace the yearly average approach for new pensioners from around 2020. The aim of this approach is to make the rate of contributory pension more closely match contributions made by a person. This is a very significant...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Employment Initiative (17 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) is one of the main EU financial resources to support the implementation of the youth guarantee by providing job, education and training opportunities to young people aged 15-25 who are not in employment, education of training. YEI funding is reserved for use in those regions, including Ireland, where youth unemployment levels exceeded 25% during the...

Correcting Pension Inequities: Motion [Private Members] (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I move amendment No. 3:To delete all the words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:notes that: - our pensioners are the backbone of our society. They are the people who built this country in the years before the economic expansion we have enjoyed in recent years. They endured the hardships of a stagnant economy in the 1960s through to the 1980s, yet...

Correcting Pension Inequities: Motion [Private Members] (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: That is not true.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The increase of €2 in the payment for qualified children (IQC), which most weekly social welfare payments can include, represents an increase of 6.7% in this payment, and will bring the estimated cost of this child-related element of the welfare budget to in the region of €579 million in 2017. This budgetary measure specifically targeted children in low-income families, and as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Work Family Dividend Scheme (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: In order to be eligible for the BTWFD a customer must be aged under 66, must be resident and employed (the employment or self-employment can commence up to four weeks of the claim/scheme ending) in the State, and have been in receipt of an IQC (or equivalent) while in receipt of one of the following payments: 1. Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) or Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) for at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 28 August 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 Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance Fund (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Social Insurance Fund (SIF) was established by the Social Welfare Act 1952 (as amended). The SIF operates under the terms of the Social Welfare (Consolidation Act) 2005. Under section 9 of that Act the SIF comprises a current account managed by the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and an investment account managed by the Minister for Finance. The income of the SIF...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The following table provides the number of persons under 26 years of age in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance, jobseeker’s benefit and credits with a duration greater than 1 year at end of September 2017. Age Jobseeker's Allowance Jobseeker's Benefit Credits Only 18 19 906 20 1,379 3 21 1,439 2 22 1,544 3 5 23 1,578 5 9 24 1,661 5 13 25...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I regret that this information is not readily available at this time, as the requested statistics are not routinely compiled by my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Anti-Poverty Strategy (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The effects of the economic recession were most severe during the period of time from 2009-2012. The number of young people experiencing consistent poverty rose sharply in these years – reflecting increased youth unemployment, and, more significantly, increased unemployment among the parents of young adults who were mainly still studying and living at home. Some improvement was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Zero-hour Contracts (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I would point out that the Deputy is referring to a report which was commissioned by the previous Government. In May of this year the Government approved the drafting of legislation to address the commitment in the current Programme for Government to address problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious work. The proposed legislation...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: National Minimum Wage (18 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: In October 2016 the Low Pay Commission submitted its report on the sub-minima rates of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000, which included a study by the ESRI on the usage of sub-minima rates both in Ireland and internationally. The ESRI found that sub-minima rates of a similar nature are in use in a significant number of OECD countries. The Commission concluded that incidence of usage of...