Results 3,841-3,860 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Report on Lone Parents: Motion (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I wish to refer to one or two points that were made in the debate. Deputy Curran referred to the fact that due to some of the changes we made since 2012, the jobseeker's transitional, JST, payment may be a better payment for some people than the working family payment. He is correct, but it is not something we in the Department see as a difficulty because in those cases the JST payment will...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Funding towards school meals is being provided in over 1,550 schools and other organisations, supporting up to 247,000 children at a cost of some €54 million in 2018, representing an increase of €6.5 million over the previous year. Funding for breakfast clubs is being provided to the three schools referred to by the Deputy. Funding is based on the previous year’s...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance Fund (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: As previously outlined in the replies to the Deputy’s previous Written Questions Nos. 701 on 19 December 2017 and 253 on 20 October 2017, it is the employer’s responsibility to pay statutory redundancy and other wage related entitlements to all eligible employees. In the event that an employer is unable to pay these entitlements due to financial difficulties, the Department may...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Benefit Appeals (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Child benefit is in payment to the person concerned and has been paid from the date of claim to date, including February 2018. A review of her child benefit claim was undertaken in January; that review has now concluded and the Department is satisfied that the person concerned retains her entitlement to the benefit. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. I confirm that my department received an application for CA from the person concerned on the 7 December 2017. The application is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned is in receipt of a reduced rate state pension (contributory) with effect from their 66th birthday, based on an assessed yearly average of 24 contributions, covering the period from April 1981 to end-December 2012. According to the records of my Department, the person concerned has a social insurance record of 969 reckonable contributions and credits, and is in receipt of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. CA was in payment to the person concerned from 2 January 2014. Once claims are in payment, the Department periodically reviews them to ensure that there is continued entitlement. A...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 17 August 2017. It is a condition for receipt of CA that the applicant’s...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned is in receipt of state pension (contributory) with effect from their 66th birthday. According to the records of my Department, the person concerned has a social insurance record of 982 reckonable paid and credited contributions. They are in receipt of a reduced state pension (contributory) based on a yearly average of 20 contributions, covering the period from October...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. My department received an application for CA from the person concerned on 22 November 2016. It is a condition for receipt of CA that every...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting some 33,400 recipients for which the Government has provided €180 million for 2018. Details of the total rent supplement recipients and associated outturn under the scheme are provided in the tabular statement. Recipient numbers for Dublin are also provided but costs associated at a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The payment of the living alone allowance, fuel allowance and household benefits package (HHB) is considered secondary, or non-primary, in nature which is incorporated into the person’s qualifying payment. The effect of the living alone allowance is to increase the rate of payment to such people, recognizing that there are economies of scale associated with living with another person....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the following table. It should be noted that the county level statistics indicate the number of people with an adult dependent on the live register in January at an office located in the county indicated. As the catchment areas of many local offices cross county borders, this may differ in some cases from the county of residence of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Redundancy Rebates (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The purpose of the redundancy payments scheme is to compensate employees for the loss of their jobs, where the employer is unable to pay statutory redundancy due to financial difficulties or insolvency. The scheme is funded from the social insurance fund. Up to 2011, the scheme provided a rebate of 60 per cent to employers who provided statutory redundancy payments to their employees....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Following the publication of my Department’s Report, An Analysis of the Community Employment Programme, in April 2017 the Government approved a number of changes to the terms and conditions around participation on Community Employment (CE). The main purpose of these changes, which were implemented in July 2017 was to broaden the availability of CE to a greater number of people on the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Social Welfare Scheme for Artists (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank Senator Warfield for raising this matter. The jobseeker's benefit and allowance schemes provide an income for periods when people do not have employment to support themselves. This pilot scheme is different. The aim is to support artists with a view that the artists would provide their own enterprise. Senator Warfield's figures are slightly different from mine. My figures go up...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Social Welfare Scheme for Artists (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Would the Senator send me the details of the Swedish model? I am not aware of it but if it works it is worth looking at.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Income Inequality (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 36 and 39 together. The research report, Poverty Dynamics of Social Risk Groups in the EU, produced by the ESRI and funded by my Department, analyses the significance of different systems of welfare regimes and their effectiveness in protecting vulnerable groups in 11 EU countries, including Ireland, over the ten-year period from 2004 to 2014. It showed...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Income Inequality (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: While I am loath to contradict the Deputy, I have no choice on this occasion. Of the two programmes I am specifically referring to, one was only launched in 2017 and the pilot programme for the second was only completed a number of weeks ago, having run for 12 months during 2017. Neither of those programmes are reflected in the data we have shown. One is the Ability programme, which is...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Income Inequality (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy is incorrect. The data in the report refers to the period 2004 to 2014. The Deputy cannot say that my programmes are not working when they bear no relation to the data referred to in the ESRI report. Let us be clear about that. I thank the Deputy for his tokenistic compliment. The Ability programme is a pilot project. I am not sure how Sinn Féin does things but we do...