Results 4,041-4,060 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned applied for one-parent family payment on 23 November 2006. She was requested to provide certain documentation when she made her application and again more recently. On receipt of the required documentation a decision will be made without delay and the person concerned will be notified of the outcome. In the meantime payment of jobseeker's benefit at the weekly rate of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the home-maker's scheme which was introduced in and took effect from 1994. The scheme allows time spent caring for children up to 12 years of age or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes. A maximum of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Apr 2007)

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. Owing to a communications error, the appeal submitted on behalf of the person concerned last January was overlooked. This is very much regretted. The Health Service Executive has advised that it is preparing the required...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The earnings disregard for those in receipt of Disability Allowance engaging in rehabilitative employment has been increased on a number of occasions since the transfer of the then Disabled Person's Maintenance Allowance (DPMA) from the Health Boards to my Department as Disability Allowance in 1996. At that time the disregard was £35.20 (equivalent to €44.69), increased to £36.30...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The national fuel scheme assists householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive (HSE) payments with meeting the cost of their heating needs during the winter season. Fuel allowances are paid for 29 weeks from end-September to mid-April and are included in the recipient's weekly payment during this period. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's normal...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (24 Apr 2007)

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 (HSE). The purpose of the scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: Statistics on the numbers of appeals outstanding in each category of social welfare payment are not held on a county basis. On 31 March 2007 there were a total of 5,624 appeals outstanding on a national basis. Details are not maintained on a county basis. A breakdown of those cases by scheme type is given in the table. Work is in progress in these cases at the various stages of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned appealed to the Social Welfare Appeals Office against the decision to disallow an application for carers allowance. Having considered all the available evidence, including that adduced at an oral hearing, the Appeals Officer decided that the person being cared for was not so incapacitated as to require full time care and attention and disallowed the appeal. The person...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I have nothing further to add to the reply given on 3 April 2007. The oral appeal hearing will be held in this case as soon as it can be accommodated. The person concerned will be informed when arrangements have been made. Under social welfare legislation decisions in relation to claims must be made by Deciding Officers and Appeals Officers. These officers are statutorily appointed and I...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned applied for the household benefits package on 13 April, 2007. The claim was refused as the conditions of the scheme were not satisfied. A person in receipt of a non contributory pension who is under age 66, may qualify for the household benefits package if his/her late spouse was at the time of his/her death in receipt of the package. The person concerned is under age...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Apr 2007)

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. Neither I nor my department have any function in relation to decisions on individual claims. The Health Service Executive has been contacted and has confirmed that payment of rent supplement was suspended for the period...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 640 and 641 together. The person concerned had been in receipt of jobseeker's benefit at the weekly rate of €185.80. Her jobseeker's benefit exhausted on 15 February 2007. On receipt of a new claim a Deciding Officer, having examined her work pattern, determined that her normal level of employment was 3 days per week and that she has not sustained a loss...

Pension Provisions. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: It is a fundamental principle of our social insurance system that those qualifying for benefits must satisfy a range of contribution and other conditions. In the case of contributory pensions, this involves commencing payment of contributions ten years before pension age, payment of a minimum number of contributions at an appropriate rate and reaching a minimum average annual contribution...

Pension Provisions. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: As I stated, I asked the ILO's committee of experts for its views on the way in which the IHRC has interpreted the relevant articles. I do not know when we will receive its views but as soon as we do, the Department will be well disposed to publishing the information. There are obviously anomalies throughout the system and we have made good progress in recent years in ironing them out. A...

Pension Provisions. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The number who could benefit from the recommendations of the IHRC is limited. The people in question were over 61 in 1988 and could not satisfy the conditions for a standard pension at that time and, because of their age, they were not in a position to make the 260 contributions required for the special pension, which was introduced in 1999. It appears from our records that more than 700...

Social Insurance. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The second review of the social insurance fund, SIF, which is required under section 10 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, has recently been completed. The review was undertaken in accordance with the requirement that such reviews be carried out at five-yearly intervals, and the previous review was completed in June 2002. The legislation also requires that the report be laid...

Social Insurance. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: Allow me to clear up the timeline. This is the second review of the social insurance fund, required under section 10 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. It has been completed and is before Government. Under the legislation, the review must be laid before the Houses within six months of its completion and clearance by the Government. From a legal point of view, the Government...

Social Insurance. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The number of people at work is increasing all the time. The number of people contributing is growing steadily and is currently at 2.8 million. Assuming the economy keeps growing, in line with the Central Bank and other independent projections, the income to the fund will increase. Any proposals made in the context of the election campaign and manifestos are the subject of hot and heavy...

Social Welfare Benefits. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: It takes 15 weeks on average at present to finalise claims for carer's allowance. During 2006, the average was just over ten weeks and in 2005, the average was almost 13 weeks. The reason for the current increase in average claim processing times is the increase in the number of claims being submitted. The number of claims submitted in 2006 was more than 20% higher than the total for 2005....

Social Welfare Benefits. (25 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: It is partly my fault because I have made so many changes in the area in the past two and a half years, putting enormous pressure on the system, by relaxing the means test and improving the different allowances and their levels. On top of that, there is this year's decision to pay a half rate carer's allowance to anyone in receipt of another welfare payment. There has been enormous pressure...