Results 2,741-2,760 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary allowance (SWA) scheme is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The scheme provides assistance to any persons in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants, subject to qualifying conditions. I am very conscious of the need to facilitate persons in receipt of social...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The number of estates cases for each of the years 2000 to 2005 where the Pension Services Office of my Department raised overpayments is as follows: Year No. of cases where overpayments raised 2000 508 2001 474 2002 406 2003 388 2004 335 2005 272 My Department does not have statistics on the number of the above cases where the next-of-kin of the deceased pensioners...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned was in receipt of unemployment assistance up to 20 June 2006 when, following a review of his claim which took account of all the available evidence, the Deciding Officer disallowed the claim on the basis that he was not genuinely seeking employment. The person appealed against this decision and in accordance with the statutory requirements the relevant departmental papers...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The farm assist scheme, which introduced special arrangements for farmers on low incomes, was provided for in the Social Welfare Act, 1999 and came into operation with effect from 7 April 1999. There are currently 7,574 farm assist customers while the average weekly payment is €173.79. The cost of the scheme for the years 2004 and 2005 was as follows: Year Outturn €m ...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The most recent results from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Quarterly National Household Survey show a 0.9% point decline in supplementary pensions coverage from 52.4% of the working population aged 20-69 in quarter 1 of 2004 to 51.5% in the same quarter of 2005. The decline is within the margin of error for the survey so the position appears to be that there was little change in the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 415, 416, 429 and 436 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...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The application for carer's benefit by the person concerned has recently been approved and carer's benefit was awarded with effect from 21 October 2004. All arrears of carer's benefit have been paid to the person concerned.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I understand that a date is not available for the oral hearing which is to be held in this case. It will be set as soon as it can be accommodated in the list for Mayo.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The Regulations, which are the subject matter of the correspondence in question, provide that child benefit should be paid to one parent and give priority to the mother in determining which of two parents is entitled to the benefit. This policy was endorsed in a number of fora, for example the Commission on the Status of Women (1972 and 1974) and the Department's Child Benefit Review...

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I understand that the question relates to the multi-annual capital envelopes which were introduced by the Minister for Finance in Budget 2004. These provide for a 5-year rolling programme of capital investment. A key feature of the initiative is that Departments are able to carry over to the following year any unspent Exchequer capital allocations, up to a maximum of 10% of each annual...

Written Answers — Information Technology: Information Technology (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: My Department is highly dependent on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems, some of which have been in place for over 20 years, to deliver its schemes and in particular, its payment services. For example, each week my Department is responsible for some 970,000 payments that, when dependants are included, directly benefit some 1.5 million customers. Each year almost 60...

Written Answers — Information Technology: Information Technology (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 422, 423 and 425 together. Procurement in my Department, including Information and Communications Technology (ICT) procurement, is carried out in strict accordance with national regulations and guidelines and in accordance with EU directives. These do not allow for discrimination in favour of indigenous suppliers. My Department does not maintain data on the...

Written Answers — Information Technology: Information Technology (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Contracts awarded by my Department with a significant Information and Communications Technology (ICT) content vary considerably depending on the scope of what is required (e.g. numbers of locations or users or complexity of solution). The detailed information requested is currently being compiled and a letter enclosing the information will issue to the Deputy in the near future.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 426 and 433 together. The Family Income Supplement is designed to provide cash support for employees on low earnings with families. This preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she were claiming other social welfare payments. Currently in the region of 18,500...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The setting of waste management charges and the introduction of waivers or rebates in respect of waste charges is, as stated by my colleague the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, a matter for each local authority. The introduction of a national social welfare scheme to address the issue could be complex given the wide range of charging regimes and cost structures that...

Written Answers — School Meals Programme: School Meals Programme (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The school meals programme operated by my Department gives funding towards provision of food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes. The first is the statutory urban school meals scheme, currently operated by 36 local authorities, which provides food services to primary schools. The Department jointly funds the food costs with these local authorities, who also manage...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: In Budget 2006, I was pleased to announce that I proposed to establish, in September 2006, a standardised State (Non-Contributory) Pension, replacing the old age pension and, for recipients aged 66 and over, blind pension, widow/er's pension, one parent family payment, deserted wife's allowance and prisoner's wife's allowance. All the schemes in question feature a common means disregard of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The Respite Care Grant in respect of 2006 is payable on Thursday 1 June 2006, the date on which the conditions pertaining to the Grant must be satisfied. Payment to eligible people is effected as soon as practicable after that date. To date a total of 27,631 Grants have been paid in respect of the 2006 scheme. The Grant is payable from my Department, automatically, without the need for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Decisions on statutory social welfare schemes are made by statutorily appointed Deciding Officers of my Department or, in the case of supplementary welfare allowance, by appointed officers of the Health Service Executive. Where a customer is dissatisfied with a decision made by a Deciding Officer, s/he has a statutory right of appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. Where a customer is...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (4 Jul 2006)

Séamus Brennan: A cross-departmental working group established under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF) has examined the feasibility of the introduction of a cost of disability payment. The National Disability Authority, on behalf of working group and in line with its own remit, commissioned research into the feasibility of such a payment. The purpose of this research was to advise regarding the...