Results 4,581-4,600 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

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

Regina Doherty: Unemployment blackspots are small areas identified in the Census of Population in 2016 as having particularly high levels of joblessness. In general, they are small residential areas within larger urban areas, with a significant number within the city of Limerick. The approach adopted by my Department is that the services delivered by Intreo are focused on unemployed individuals rather than...

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

Regina Doherty: My Department currently has 58 Branch Offices at various locations throughout the country. Services are provided through this Branch Office network in areas which are not directly served by a Department operated Intreo Centre. Each Branch Office is privately operated and managed by a Branch Manager under a contract for service with the Department. My Department is anxious to ensure that the...

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

Regina Doherty: The issues which I understand the Deputy to be referring to would appear to relate to the application of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 to the Horse Racing sector. In response to representations made to me by the industry and by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I wrote to the Attorney General seeking his advice as to what options, if any, might be available to me...

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

Regina Doherty: A number of amendments for inclusion at Committee Stage of the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017 are currently being drafted. My Department is currently engaging with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government (OPC) in this regard. These amendments include important measures relating in particular to pensions and data protection. Subject to the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Qualified Child Increase Payments (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Most weekly social welfare payments include an additional payment in respect of each qualified child up to age 18, which is extended to encompass older school/college going children to age 22 under certain circumstances. These are referred to as qualified child increases (IQCs). IQC payments do not of themselves constitute a specific social welfare scheme and entitlement to the appropriate...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Almost all defined benefit (DB) schemes have a rule that allows the employer to cease contributions, usually after a notice period. Currently there is no legislative obligation on the employer to make contributions and no further liability on the employer where contributions cease. However, over the last number of years the Government has amended pension legislation to protect the pension...

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

Regina Doherty: The first publication of the Labour Force Survey which replaces the Quarterly National Household Survey (QHNS) was released on 16, January 2018 and is the official measure of unemployment. The most recent data shows that, nationally, unemployment has fallen from a peak of 15% in 2012 to 6.1% by March 2018. Within the South East region, which includes Wexford, unemployment has fallen from a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions Reform (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 and 29 together. A policy to introduce the Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pensions calculation was adopted by the then Government in the National Pensions Framework in 2010, as was the decision to base the entitlements of all new pensioners on this approach from 2020. On the 23rd January, the Government agreed to a proposal that will allow...

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

Regina Doherty: It is accepted that periods of unemployment are a normal feature of the acting and artistic professions. The main social welfare schemes available from my Department for unemployed persons are the jobseeker’s allowance and benefit schemes which provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. Both schemes provide...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Applications (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The current 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: PRSI contributions can be credited to people in a number of contexts, for example when in receipt of a Jobseekers or Illness benefit payments. Where applicable, these may be used towards PRSI-based social protection payments, including the State pension contributory (SPC). Not all classes of paid or credited contributions are reckonable for a State pension contributory, e.g., those of a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Penalty rates are a legal provision within the Jobseeker schemes to ensure that the Department can achieve compliance with Government Activation Policy as stated in Pathways to Work. Legislation provides that sanctions / penalties in the form of reduced payments may be imposed by the Department’s Deciding Officers where recipients of jobseeker payments fail, without good cause, to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Penalty rates are a legal provision within the Jobseeker schemes to ensure that the Department can achieve compliance with Government Activation Policy as stated in Pathways to Work. Legislation provides that sanctions / penalties in the form of reduced payments may be imposed by the Department’s Deciding Officers where recipients of jobseeker payments fail, without good cause, to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: JobPath is one of a range of activation supports, including employment schemes such as Community Employment (CE) and Tús, catering for unemployed jobseekers. Long term unemployed jobseekers who are not engaged with any other activation scheme or service are referred by my Department to the JobPath service to receive intensive individual support, including relevant training and...

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

Regina Doherty: A policy to introduce the Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pensions calculation was adopted by the then Government in the National Pensions Framework in 2010, as was the decision to base the entitlements of all new pensioners on this approach from 2020.On the 23rd January, the Government agreed to a proposal that will allow pensioners affected by the 2012 changes in rate bands to have...

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

Regina Doherty: The Department of Justice and Equality have policy and legislative responsibility for paternity leave and parental leave. My Department has responsibility for any associated social welfare payments. The Programme for Partnership Government commits the Government to increase paid parental leave in the first year of a child's life. An inter-departmental working group has been established,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: In line with other EU and OECD jurisdictions where such measures feature in their social welfare systems, reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced in 2009. These were further extended in subsequent budgets and now apply to jobseeker’s allowance recipients under 26 years of age. This is a targeted, non-discriminatory, measure aimed at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payments (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Provision of a prompt service is a major objective for the Department, especially for the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme which is the safety net within the social welfare system. The Deputy will be aware that my Department has re-engineered its business model to support the provision of integrated services across all business streams involved in the delivery of localised services....

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

Regina Doherty: The use of facial recognition technology has been successfully employed by my Department for a number of years. What is proposed, in the context of this competitive tender process, is a continuation and upgrade of this existing technology. My Department uses facial image matching software to strengthen the SAFEregistration process. The normal digital photograph in JPEG format is captured...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Maintenance Payments (3 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department operates a range of means tested social assistance payments. Social welfare legislation provides that the means test for these schemes takes account of the income and assets of the person and a spouse / partner, if applicable. Income and assets include income from employment, self-employment, occupational pensions, maintenance payments as well as property owned (other than the...