Results 4,561-4,580 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Other Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am sorry, Chairman.

Other Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 10 together. The introduction of a total contributions approach, TCA, to pensions calculation was signalled by the then Government in the national pensions framework in 2010, with a target date of 2020 for its implementation. On 23 January last, this Government agreed to a proposal that will allow pensioners affected by the 2012 changes in rate...

Other Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The legislation is being drafted. I hope to bring it forward as part of one of the Bills currently before the House or perhaps the social welfare Bill later in the year. The proposed timeframe for contacting people has not slipped. Everyone who has become a pensioner since 2012 will be contacted, with a view to assessing them under the changes that have been made. During that process they...

Other Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The overall move from an averaging to a total contributions system will probably be the subject of a public consultation process next month. We will I hope have a very detailed and inclusive public consultation process, for both stakeholders and future pensioners, during the course of the summer months. It will be entirely separate from this particular fix. Ten-year credits are not new and...

Other Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not understand why that is the case. Perhaps the Deputy might come to me with the details and I will look into the matter. If they had worked, they should have a stamp; it is as simple as that. I reassure the Deputy the timelines have not slipped. The commitment we made earlier this year was to address the anomaly, bring forward the legislation, invite people to be adjudicated on...

Other Questions: JobPath Programme (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I recently announced that people engaged with the JobPath service would, from 1 June, have the option of applying for community employment scheme and Tús placements while continuing to work with the JobPath programme. This will ensure jobseekers can benefit both from the job seeking support of the JobPath service and also avail of part-time work placements provided by Tús or under...

Other Questions: JobPath Programme (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I agree with the Deputy. Bad news tends to travel around the world much more quickly than good news. However, the survey and, importantly, the job numbers arising from this programme speak for themselves. It is probably the most successful activation programme in the history of the State. We are conducting an econometric review, the purpose of which is to evaluate JobPath as a service and...

Other Questions: JobPath Programme (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: As I stated at the outset, representations have been made to me by CE host companies and the Irish Local Development Network, ILDN, over the past year. They needed more people to ensure the viability of the services and supports they offered to the people on the schemes and the communities they supported. That is why we made the change. The Deputy may be under the wrong impression that...

Other Questions: Fuel Allowance Expenditure (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I wish I had a contingency budget just sitting around for rainy days, but I thank the Deputy for his question. The fuel allowance is a payment of an extra €22.50 per week from October to April to more than 338,000 lower income households at an estimated cost to the Exchequer of €227 million in 2018. The purpose of the payment is to assist those households with their energy...

Other Questions: Fuel Allowance Expenditure (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I hope to be able to bring the report to the Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection before the summer. We need a few months to make inroads if we are to avoid making the budgetary negotiations longer and more painful than they need to be. It will give us time to determine what the impacts are, particularly on families on fixed incomes to whom the Deputy referred. However,...

Other Questions: Fuel Allowance Expenditure (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: At the moment, the fuel allowance is only paid to a particular cohort of people, but the report that I hope to bring to the committee will not just address them. Rather, it will be a report on fuel poverty. As the Deputy is well aware, poverty knows no doors or windows that can stop it. The report will be all-encompassing and cover every section of society so that we can determine the best...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The issue of addressing the entitlement of community employment supervisors to occupational pensions is primarily a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. For the record, it should be noted that my Department is not the employer of CE supervisors and, therefore, such employees are not public servants. They are employees of limited companies that receive...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am not aware of the ex gratiapayment. When it was brought to my attention by Deputy Howlin last week, I was not aware of it so I sought a report on it.

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: This particular issue is years in the brewing. It has been through a Fianna Fáil Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, a Labour Party Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Public Expenditure and currently a Fine Gael Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. If this was an...

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: We do acknowledge that there is a resolution that needs to be found but it needs to be found within the confines of the Labour Court recommendation that it cannot be to the detriment of the CE schemes and placements. Also, as custodians of taxpayers' money we have to ensure that this does not extend to a far wider and greater reach than the original issue that was put on the table ten years ago.

Questions on Promised Legislation (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: As I outlined to my party colleague, Deputy Martin Heydon, when this was brought to his attention yesterday, the full support of my Department will be given to the 82 workers affected. We will host an event in Athy where departmental officials will meet the workers to inform them about their social protection entitlements and, more important, to examine their skill sets and get them back to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The role of the Department is not just to provide a jobseeker payment to people who are unfortunate enough to be unemployed, but also to provide assistance and support to unemployed jobseekers to help them secure employment. Central to this approach is the concept of ‘claim and commitment’. Jobseekers have a right to claim an income support from the State but also have a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Company Closures (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am mindful of the plight of the employees involved and, indeed, I have met with the Unite trade union on the matter. The Department has also engaged with the Revenue Commissioners and this engagement is continuing. More generally under the provisions of the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984, a company is regarded as being insolvent if: the company is placed...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Food Poverty (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: At the outset, I would like to express my admiration for the work of the St Vincent de Paul in assisting vulnerable people in our society. My department works very closely with Vincent de Paul in addressing many issues in relation to vulnerable people, including food poverty. The Department administers the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), which provides food and basic...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Government recognises the need for the social protection system to provide flexible and effective supports for persons who encounter mental health difficulties. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is a model of supported employment that facilitates people with mental health difficulties to move into mainstream, open labour market employment. Under the IPS model, a person is viewed as...