Results 3,421-3,440 of 5,587 for speaker:Kevin Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 35, 50 and 51 together. The rent supplement scheme provides support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are currently approximately 70,000 rent supplement recipients, for which Government has...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The rent supplement scheme provides support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are currently approximately 70,000 rent supplement recipients, with some 1,700 in County Kerry. The Government has provided over €298 million...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Data (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I have set out below a table giving numbers participating in activation schemes under the Department as at 9thApril, 2015. Table 1. Numbers Participating in Activation Schemes Figures as at 9thApril, 2015 Scheme Current Participants Back to Education Allowance 24,143 Community Employment 22,914 Back to Work Enterprise Allowance 11,837 (Inclusive of 465 STEA cases) TÚS 7952...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobsPlus Scheme (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 44 and 45 together. JobsPlus provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers who recruit employees from the Live Register and those transitioning into employment. It provides employers with two levels of payment - €7,500 or €10,000 over two years provided the employment is maintained. The rate of payment depends on the length of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The aim of CE is to enhance the employability and mobility of disadvantaged and unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. The Department’s priority in supporting CE is having access to schemes that can provide job seekers and other vulnerable groups with good quality work experience and training qualifications to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) provides income support for second chance education opportunities to enable participation by jobseekers in full-time second and third level education. A person wishing to pursue a course of study under BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions. These include being of a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: Persons signing for credits only (i.e. not in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment) are ineligible for Community Employment. There are no plans to change this. Unemployed persons not in receipt of payments may, however, be eligible to avail of other up-skilling opportunities, for example, through ETB training for unemployed people. At present, there are 1,009 upcoming day...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme Application Numbers (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The rural social scheme (RSS) provides income support for low income farmers and those engaged in fishing who have an entitlement to specified social welfare payments. Participants are engaged for 19½ hours per week to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities. The Department has engaged 35 local development companies and Údarás na Gaeltachta, known as...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: A Drugs Stakeholder Group chaired by the Department was set up in May 2013 to inform and advise on the delivery of the drugs rehabilitation response within CE. Membership includes representatives of the community and voluntary sectors, Drugs Task Forces and statutory organisations. A new Programme Framework is currently being developed for drug rehabilitation schemes. The Framework is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The Deputy will be aware that the individuals concerned are the employees of private companies. In the circumstances, it is not possible for the State to take over responsibility for funding pension arrangements for employees of private companies, even where those companies are reliant on State funding. This position was confirmed by the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform to...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Social Insurance (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank Senator Craughwell for raising this issue of which I am very much aware, having served on Dublin City Council for many years. I have also had extensive engagement on this issue with Senator Denis Landy and Dublin City Councillors Mary Freehill and Dermot Lacey, who is in the Gallery. It is not a popular subject to raise and I compliment the Senator on raising it. He certainly will...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Social Insurance (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I will conclude the debate by paying tribute to the work county councillors and city councillors do. They do an extremely tough and thankless job and are often blamed for decisions that are made in these Houses rather than in the local chamber. A councillor is the face of democracy, and people often vent at them in the wrong manner when they bump into them on the street. The position of...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Second Stage (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The main purpose of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015 is to provide for the introduction of the new back-to-work family dividend to help jobseekers with families and lone parents to return to work or to increase the number of hours worked. This measure will complete the implementation of the budget 2015 package of social protection improvements, which also included...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Second Stage (15 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank the Senators for their contributions to the debate on Second Stage and the spirit in which the contributions were made, which was constructive in the majority of cases. In this Bill, we are providing further help for welfare dependent families through the introduction of the back to work family dividend to help jobseekers with families and lone parents return to work or increase...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (16 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The rent supplement scheme provides support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are currently approximately 70,000 rent supplement recipients, for which Government has provided over €298 million for 2015. The Department...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobsPlus Scheme (16 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: JobsPlus provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers who recruit employees primarily from the Live Register. Employers may also be eligible for the incentive if they recruit former recipients of the one parent family payment whose youngest child is 14 years of age or over who are currently in receipt of a jobseekers' payment and those transitioning into employment. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Work Placement Programmes (21 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: Tús, the community work placement initiative introduced during 2011, was set up to provide short-term, work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year. This initiative is being delivered through the network of local development companies and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Tús is designed to break the cycle of unemployment and maintain work readiness thereby...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobsPlus Scheme (21 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: The JobsPlus scheme is currently available to JobBridge participants who meet the JobsPlus criteria. Eligibility criteria and general information relating to both schemes are available on www.welfare.ie.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (21 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I understand the position from which the Senator is approaching this issue. However, there appears to be a misconception that this section will shift the burden of proof from the Department to the claimant.It has always been the case that the onus is on the claimant, whether it be an application for the carer's allowance or any other social welfare payment, to provide any necessary...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (21 Apr 2015)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank the Senator for his co-operation. If incidents arise and he brings them to my attention, I will deal with them and work with him in this regard.