Results 3,421-3,440 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Family Support Services. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I record my appreciation for the work undertaken by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and others on behalf of the most vulnerable members of society, particularly families who for one reason or another are unable to survive financially, especially at times of difficulty or acute financial pressure. Government support for families facing financial difficulty is provided mainly through the...

Family Support Services. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is at the forefront of this issue and encounters much hardship and deprivation. On behalf of all in the House, I thank the society for its work. Its volunteers knock on hundreds of thousands of doors in any one year and they are worth listening to. We did not meet all the requests in its pre-budget submission but we achieved much on issues such as school...

Family Support Services. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: My Department, through the Family Support Agency, has responsibility for a number of initiatives to support families and help prevent relationship breakdown. The scheme of grants for voluntary organisations providing marriage, child and bereavement counselling services is a non-statutory scheme of once-off grants to voluntary organisations providing a range of family counselling services...

Family Support Services. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The Family Support Agency is the main agency to address the issues the Deputy raises. It funds 541 organisations countrywide and deals with family counselling in all areas, including separation, divorce and bereavement. Those 541 organisations do a magnificent job. As I said, the preliminary findings of the study we carried out indicate that up to 70,000 people benefit from the counselling...

Social Welfare Code. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Supporting and recognising carers in our society is and has been a priority of the Government since 1997. In that period, weekly payment rates to carers have been considerably increased, qualifying conditions for carer's allowance have been significantly eased, coverage of the scheme has been extended and new schemes, such as carer's benefit and the respite care grant, have been introduced...

Social Welfare Code. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I know how committed Deputy Penrose is to this matter, as he has referred to removing the means test three times in the past four days.

Social Welfare Code. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: He knows where I stand in that regard.

Social Welfare Code. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I know where he is and his assessment is probably right. I am involved in developing a strategy with carers and we will examine some of these issues in that context because it is a good framework within which to deal with the remaining issues. As Deputy Stanton knows, we increased the 15 hours per week limit last year, but we have not moved the limit this year because we want to determine...

Social Welfare Benefits. (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 15 together. Child benefit and early child care supplement are regarded as family benefits under EU Regulation 1408/71. Consequently, EU migrant workers have an entitlement to these payments in respect of their children even if the children are resident in the workers' home countries. There are just more than 32,000 EU nationals in receipt of child...

Written Answers — Debt Levels: Debt Levels (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 40, 83, 89, 96 and 114 together. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provides assistance to people who are overindebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. There are 52 independent companies nation-wide operating the service. The credit union movement has been a key partner in MABS since its inception and their involvement and...

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

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 23, 44, 76, 78 and 82 together. The most recent results from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Quarterly National Household Survey show that in the first quarter of 2005 51.5% of those at work had supplementary pension coverage. With a working population of just over 2 million, these figures suggest that about 1.03 million workers have a supplementary...

Written Answers — Mobile Telephony: Mobile Telephony (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 64 together. 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 this group. I am very pleased to say that we have delivered on our commitment to bring the basic State Pension (non-contributory) to €200 a week by increasing it...

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

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 17 together. Last week, I was pleased to announce an increase in the ceiling on reckonable earnings applied to maternity benefit from €332 to €350 per week for 2007. This will raise the maximum rate of payment — based on 80% of reckonable earnings — from €265.60 to €280 per week with effect from 1st January, 2007. The minimum rate of...

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

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 21, 34, 47, 81 and 87 together. 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...

Written Answers — EU Surveys: EU Surveys (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 49, 57, 73, 105 and 113 together. The annual EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU–SILC), which commenced in Ireland in 2003, is conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and provides information on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. The most recent results, for the year 2005, record continuing positive trends in relation to...

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

Séamus Brennan: The weekly value of capital is assessed in a similar manner for both state pension (non-contributory) and farm assist. For both schemes, an initial sum of €20,000 is disregarded and the balance is assessed as means. I understand that the Deputy is referring, in particular, to the difference in the assessment of means generally, including capital, for these schemes in the case of couples....

Written Answers — Cross-Departmental Co-operation: Cross-Departmental Co-operation (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: My Department works in close co-operation with other Government departments and their agencies in carrying out its responsibilities in the provision of income support and other services. This co-operation includes participation in working committees and groups, collaborative working on a bilateral basis in pursuit of specific Government policy objectives and liaison on day to day matters...

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

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 278 together. The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the homemaker's scheme which was introduced from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years (from 1994) spent caring for children or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged...

Written Answers — Payment Delivery Service: Payment Delivery Service (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Following the Government decision in 1999 to extend the An Post contract for the delivery of social welfare payments for a further 3 years a complaint was lodged with the European Commission under the Procurement Services Directive. The Advocate-General to the European Court of Justice gave an opinion on the case in September 2006 and concurred with the European Commission's view that Ireland...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 and 63 together. In line with a commitment in the social partnership agreement 'Towards 2016', a new National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (NAP inclusion 2007-2016) is currently being prepared by the Office for Social Inclusion in my Department. The Plan will be launched early in 2007 and is being prepared in tandem with and will complement the...