Results 3,201-3,220 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Payment Delivery Services: Payment Delivery Services (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: My Department's policy is to ensure cost effective arrangements are in place for making payments through a range of payment options and that the service is continually adapted by providing access to new payment services and facilities as they become available. Customers opt for a particular payment method having regard to their own circumstances. The current range of payment options offered...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 138 and 142 together. The National Action Plan for Inclusion is currently being prepared by the Office for Social Inclusion in my Department. This plan will encompass a lifecycle approach within which the key social challenges will be addressed, by assessing the risks which individuals face and the supports available to them at each stage in the life...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents," put forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the National Employment Action Plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of childcare; improved information services for lone parents and the introduction of a new social...

Written Answers — Tenancy Agreements: Tenancy Agreements (14 Nov 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. The purpose of the scheme is to provide short-term income support, in the form of a weekly or monthly payment, to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: On 20 October 2005, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive on improving the portability of supplementary pension rights. The purpose of the Directive is to facilitate free movement of workers within and between EU member states by removing perceived obstacles to mobility within and between member states which may be caused by present supplementary pension scheme...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Since taking office this Government has made the needs of older people a priority with the inclusion of several commitments in the Programme for Government aimed specifically at the group. One of these is a commitment to increase the state pension rate to €200 per week by 2007. In Budget 2006 non-contributory pensioners received an increase of €16 per week (9.6%) bringing the maximum...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over. All carers in receipt of carer's allowance and carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relative's allowance, regardless of their age, receive a free travel pass. It is also available to people under age 66 who are in receipt of certain disability type welfare payments, such...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: EU migrant workers have an entitlement to Child Benefit and other "Family benefits" including Early Childcare Supplement (ECS) under EU Regulation 1408/71. Where a national of an EU State with a family is working in Ireland, the worker is entitled to payment of family benefits, even if the children are resident abroad. Applications for family benefits from EU migrant workers who come to...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Dependent Parents' Pension is a payment under the Occupational Injuries Scheme. It forms part of the Occupational Injuries death benefit payments. If a person dies because of an accident at work or a prescribed occupational disease or was getting disablement pension assessed at 50% or more at the time of their death and leaves a dependent parent or parents, each parent may get a pension....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 149 and 389 together. Paternity leave is generally understood to be a period of leave to which a male worker is entitled following the birth of his child. Employers are not obliged to grant male employees special paternity leave, either paid or unpaid, following the birth of their child. The question of a social insurance funded payment for paternity leave...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The social welfare system comprises two types of payment, social insurance based schemes, which require those eligible to reach a certain standard in terms of the social insurance contributions paid or credited on their record, and non-contributory payments designed for those without the necessary social insurance record for contributory schemes who can satisfy a means test. Within that basic...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 151 and 168 together. Disability allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66 years. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to both a medical examination and a means test. The person must be suffering from an injury, disease, congenital deformity or physical...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Health Service Executive (HSE) may make a single payment to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. These payments are a vital component of the SWA scheme. Those who qualify are normally in receipt of a social welfare or HSE payment....

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Regulations provide that where no employment contributions have been paid or credited in respect of an insured person for any two complete consecutive social insurance contribution years, an employment contribution shall not be credited to such person unless, since the end of the second of the said contribution years, twenty-six employment contributions have been paid in respect of such...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Information: Social Welfare Information (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The objective of my Department's information policy is to ensure that all citizens are made aware of their rights and entitlements and that they are kept informed of changes and improvements in schemes and services as they occur. The provision of information in a clear and accessible manner is an essential element in achieving this objective. My Department takes a pro-active approach in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Operation Gull is a joint control exercise undertaken periodically at Airports and Ports in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain and the operations involve personnel from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), and the United Kingdom Immigration Service. My Department, through its assignment of Social Welfare Inspectors to the GNIB, participates in these...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The 2007 estimates for social welfare spending will be published on Thursday next and will represent the cost of implementing existing levels of services in the various programmes and services provided by my Department and its agencies. Normally, improvements in social welfare schemes and services are introduced by way of the Budget. In this regard, I will be developing Budget proposals in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: A person in receipt of a social welfare payment is entitled to claim an increase in respect of an adult or child dependant. Usually any such increase is paid as a single payment with the personal rate to claimant. However a spouse or partner can seek to have a portion of the payment paid direct to him/her. This usually arises in circumstances where there are domestic difficulties. When an...

Written Answers — Social Inclusion: Social Inclusion (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: In line with a commitment in the social partnership agreement Towards 2016, a new National Action Plan for Inclusion is currently being prepared by the Office for Social Inclusion in my Department. The Plan is expected to be launched early in the New Year and is being prepared in tandem with and will complement the forthcoming National Development Plan 2007-2013, which will contain a specific...

Written Answers — Migrant Issues: Migrant Issues (14 Nov 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I am aware of the report by the International Organisation for Migration for the National Economic and Social Council of Ireland. The conclusions of the report refer to a number of studies which have found that on average migrants tend to pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits over their lifetime. One example to support this statement is a study undertaken in the United Kingdom,...