Results 4,301-4,320 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Consultancy Contracts (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Our records indicate that no contracts have been awarded to this company by this Department.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors are employees of private companies in the community and voluntary sector. The State is not responsible for funding pension arrangements for such employees even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding. It is open to individuals to make provision for a pension by way of PRSA which all employers are obliged to facilitate. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned had deductions applied to a Jobseeker’s Allowance payment on foot on an overpayment of €8,303.30. The overpayment arose to means not having been fully disclosed. Deductions were in place from 13/6/2017 to 8/8/2017. The client then found work, leaving a balance of €8063.85 outstanding. There was an additional overpayment of €128 arising from...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 406 to 408, inclusive, 410, 414, 416, 419, 420, 423 and 428 together. The costings sought by Deputy O’Dea are detailed in the following series of tables. Table 1: Full year cost of varying increases in all weekly social insurance payments - €5 increase €10 increase €15 increase €20 increase €25 increase ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Telephone Support Allowance (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The new weekly Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) of €2.50 will be paid from June 2018. People in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance and also Fuel Allowance will automatically qualify for the TSA. It is expected that approximately 124,176 customers will qualify for the scheme and the estimated full year cost is €16.14 million. The estimated additional cost of increasing...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. End of year records show that under the 2017 BSCFA scheme, payments were made to 151,000 families in respect of over 275,000 children at a cost of €49 million. The rate of payment in 2017 was increased...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The cost implications of reversing the changes made to the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) in 2012 would be very complex to estimate and would require significant resources and time to prepare. In addition some of the impacts cannot be quantified. There are three significant barriers to undertaking this costing exercise. Firstly, by reversing the amendments made to the OFP scheme, this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance Fund Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The issue of extending additional social insurance benefits to the self-employed paying class S PRSI was considered in the Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance fund (SIF) as at 31 December, 2015, which I published on 18 October 2017. The review, required by legislation, was carried out by independent consultants, KPMG. It examines the projected income and expenditure of the SIF over the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The estimated costings provided in tabular form below are based on the existing profile of recipients of the One-Parent Family Payment as of January 2018 and assume that the Budget 2018 increases due from 29 March have taken effect. These estimates do not take into account potential behavioural changes which would arise from the implementation of increases to the earnings disregard, in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions Payments (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 provided that State pension age will be increased gradually to 68 years. This began in January 2014 with the abolition of the State pension (transition) which was available to people aged 65 who satisfied the qualifying conditions. This measure standardised the State pension age for all at 66 years. This will increase to 67 in 2021 and to 68 in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Bereavement Grant (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: During the economic downturn, my Department protected primary social welfare rates and in recent years, as the economy recovered, the Government has concentrated resources in improving the core rates of payments, particularly for pensioners. Abolishing the bereavement grant provided a significant annual saving and allowed my Department to protect other core social welfare payments such as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Maternity Benefit Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Maternity Benefit is paid by my Department to employed and self-employed mothers who are on maternity leave and is based on the payment of PRSI contributions while working. The current entitlement to paid maternity leave is 26 weeks. The 2018 estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of nearly €264 million. The estimated additional cost of extending the duration of maternity...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Paternity Benefit (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Paternity Benefit is a payment for employed and self-employed people who are on from work and covered by . It is paid for 2 weeks and is available for any child born or adopted on or after 1 September 2016. The 2018 Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of nearly €16 million. The estimated additional cost of extending the duration of paternity benefit is approximately...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private transport operators. There are currently approx. 904,000...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Reasonable Accommodation Fund Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The reasonable accommodation fund assists employers to take appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability/impairment to have access to employment by providing a range of grants. These grants and supports include the workplace equipment adaptation grant, the personal reader grant, the job interview interpreter grant and the employee retention grant. The purpose of the scheme is to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Training (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection fully recognises the need to support staff and promote disability awareness and has been very proactive in the provision of training and supports in this area in recent years, with a very positive response from staff. The Department supports its staff by offering a suite of disability awareness training including Mental Health...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Partial Capacity Benefit Scheme Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The partial capacity benefit (PCB) scheme is designed for people who are on illness benefit, for at least six months, or on invalidity pension and who have retained some capacity for work and wish to work. If awarded, PCB will allow them to continue to receive, in addition to their earnings from employment, a percentage of their illness benefit or invalidity pension payment while working. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: There are currently 82 staff (78.05 full-time equivalent) working in the Social Welfare Appeals Office. The full year cost of increasing the staff complement by 10% would amount to approximately €375,000.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Unemployment Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: According to the Eurostat Labour Force Survey, in 2016 there were 170.76 million households in the EU (excluding households composed solely of students or solely of inactive people aged 65 and over). Of these, some 29.49 million households (17.3% of the total) were jobless - that is, no adult in the household was working. For Ireland, the total number of relevant households was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Investment Incentive Scheme Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Penalty rates were introduced as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, including implementing sanctions for failure to engage. The legislation underpinning the...