Results 2,601-2,620 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (30 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The Social Welfare Appeals Office deals with about 14,000 appeals on an annual basis. On 30 April 2006 there were 5,625 appeals on which work was in progress. A breakdown of these cases is outlined. The average length of time taken to deal with appeals in 2005 was 20 weeks. If allowance is made for the 25% most protracted cases the average falls below 13 weeks. A breakdown of average...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (30 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The number of overpayments set up as a result of detected or suspected fraud and their corresponding monetary value for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 is as shown in the table. Years Number Monetary Value EUR million €m 2004 19,158 18.6 2005 15,978 18.2 2006 (to date) 6,111 7.4 Information on overpayments is not maintained in such as way as to facilitate a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (31 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 101 together. The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive payments with meeting the cost of their additional heating needs during the winter season. Fuel allowances are paid for 29 weeks from end-September to mid-April. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (31 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Assistance may be given in the form of a basic payment, supplements which may be paid in respect of such needs as rent/mortgage, diet or heating and exceptional needs payments which may be paid where in the opinion of the Executive exceptional...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (31 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Under the Government's decentralisation programme announced in Budget 2004, the Department is to relocate 230 posts to Donegal Town and 120 posts to Buncrana. The indicative construction start for Donegal Town is the end of 2007 and the completion date is mid-2009. The indicative construction start for Buncrana is end 2007 and completion date is early 2009. The Office of Public Works (OPW)...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (31 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: An award of Carer's Benefit was made to the person concerned, in error, on 23 May 2006. This was an error as she does not satisfy the condition that a person must have a recent history of remunerative, full time insurable employment prior to claiming Carer's Benefit. The error and any inconvenience caused is regretted. It should be noted that the claim was originally refused on the grounds...

Written Answers — Post Office Network: Post Office Network (31 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: An Post notifies my Department in advance of the closure of any post office. This allows my Department to redirect customers to the nearest post office or to make arrangements to make payments at another post office designated by the customer. Alternatively, payments may be made by a different payment method such as cheque or electronic transfer to an account with a financial institution. Two...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (31 May 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The number of people currently in receipt of unemployment benefit on the northside of Dublin is 7,663, and the number in receipt of disability benefit on the northside of Dublin is 8,043.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (1 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The person's application for carer's allowance was disallowed by a Deciding Officer on the grounds that he is employed outside the home for more than ten hours per week. The person appealed this decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. In accordance with the statutory requirements the relevant departmental papers, including a submission from the Deciding Officer were sought. The papers...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Following a review, a Deciding Officer disallowed the unemployment assistance claim of the person concerned from 28 December 2005 on the grounds that he is not available for, or genuinely seeking work. The person concerned appealed this decision. However, the Appeals Officer was not satisfied that he has made sustained efforts in genuinely seeking work and accordingly disallowed his claim. An...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: At present there are 25,788 people in receipt of carer's allowance, of which 2,788 provide full time care to two people. There are a further 1,042 people in receipt of carer's benefit at present and 103 of those are providing care to two people. In Budget 2006, I provided for a significant increase in the rates of carer's allowance and carer's benefit. From January this year, the rate of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned is currently in receipt of disability benefit. He applied for invalidity pension on 14 March 2006 and that claim was disallowed on 25 May 2006. The principal conditions for entitlement to invalidity pension are that a person must satisfy both medical eligibility criteria and social insurance conditions. The person concerned currently satisfies the social insurance...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: In general, a student undergoing a full-time course of study, instruction or training is disqualified from receiving unemployment assistance. This disqualification also extends to the holiday periods, including the summer holidays. An exception is made in the case of mature students i.e. persons over age 23 years on or before 1 January in the year in which the course of study commences. Such...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The major Government discussion paper, 'Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents' which I launched in March this year, addresses the social exclusion and risk of poverty faced by many such families and their children. The report puts forward proposals for reform of the income support system for all parents on a low income. The report proposes the expanded availability and range of education and...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Under the Family and Community Services Resource Centre Programme, which is administered by the Family Support Agency, funding of €200,000 for capital projects was made available in 2005. This was increased to €300,000 in 2006. Capital funding is only available to those centres already included in the Programme as approved Family Research Centres. There is a commitment under the National...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 265 and 266 together. The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment which provides income support to people who are providing certain elderly or incapacitated persons with full time care and attention and whose incomes fall below a certain limit. In line with other social assistance schemes, a means test is applied to the carer's allowance so as to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department has any function in relation to decisions on individual claims. Supplementary welfare allowance is subject to a means test. Rent supplements are normally calculated to ensure that a person, after...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (7 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The Department of Social and Family Affairs pays medical certifiers, who are in the main GPs and hospital interns, to provide medical certificates and reports for the purposes of its illness, disability and carer schemes. There are approximately 6,500 registered medical certifiers, some 3,000 of whom are active at any one time. The fees for medical certificates and reports are negotiated with...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (8 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Unlike other social welfare payments requiring qualifying contributions or assessment of means, child benefit is a universal payment, paid in respect of children up to the age of 16 years regardless of the level or source of parental income. It continues to be paid in respect of children up to age 19 who are in full-time education, or who have a physical or mental disability. The policy of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (8 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The National Pensions Review was published in January and it includes recommendations from the Pensions Board designed to encourage people to continue working after normal retirement age. The measures suggested involve allowing people to defer receiving their social welfare pension and to grant them an actuarially enhanced payment when they do claim. The Pensions Board also considered that if...