Results 5,501-5,520 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The majority of people claiming social welfare payments are not working. I presume the Deputy accepts that.

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: It will free up front-line staff, who deal with thousands of people simply signing on, to look at high risk customers and see if they are working. We will have human resources to track down high risk customers. I believe strongly in activation, by offering people positions in schemes and then tracking those people who suddenly become unavailable. Every time we engage in the national...

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I can get it for the Deputy. Any reasonable technology expense is worthwhile if it gives better outcomes. When I ran community businesses I often said human beings, if not used productively, have a much higher cost than equipment. In any process, if something is repeated ad nauseam to hundreds of thousands of people it makes sense to invest in the technology to automate the process and...

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Cooney committee is to report by the end of this month. It is in that context that I see this review being brought to finality.

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The evidence does not bear that out. I accept that there is a serious issue. I am anxious that these issues be brought to a finality. The committee will issue a report and it will be brought to Government. The very valid issue of rent subsidy was also raised. We are paying €500 million on rent subsidy. Local authorities must be more proactive with the rental accommodation scheme, RAS,...

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I have figures.

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Deputy is correct in that. However, we provide all the names and addresses of landlords and they are data matched by the Revenue Commissioners. Revenue has done a sample survey to see how many landlords are compliant.

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Yes, I understand we can get those figures for the Deputy, and it is a very high number. If a person receives a grant of €10,000 and uses it to pay for a service, the person who provides the service, and gets a payment of €10,000 or more, should produce a tax number. That seems to me to be fundamental. The Deputy's figure of 20% is correct and it is not satisfactory. In achieving 100%...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: In any given week, there will be a number of jobseekers who do not attend their Social Welfare Local Office to 'sign on' the live register for various reasons. For example, the person may have, without notifying the Department, taken up employment, taken a holiday, may be unwell or have forgotten to attend their Local Office, given that signing is done on a four-week cycle and therefore not...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received on 17th February 2010 from the person in question. This application was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors who found that her child was not medically eligible for DCA. A letter issued to the person in question on 28th April 2010 where she was advised of the decision to refuse DCA. In the case of an...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Due to staff action currently being taken in the HSE, I regret that I am unable to provide the information sought by the Deputy.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned has been referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in the case. The person concerned will be notified when the necessary arrangements have been made. A number of initiatives are currently underway designed to enhance the capacity of the office to deal with the current caseload...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The legislative provisions for family income supplement, FIS, are contained in the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 - Chapter 11 of Part II Section 227 to 233 as amended and the Social Welfare(Consolidated Payments Provisions)Regulations, 2007 Section 172 to 177 as amended. Under these provisions all income is assessable when calculating eligibility for FIS with the exceptions of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Due to staff action currently being taken in the HSE, I regret that I am unable to provide the information sought by the Deputy.

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The qualifying conditions for State Pension (Contributory) require the applicant to: · have entered insurable employment before attaining the age of 56 years · have at least 260 paid contribution weeks, from employment or self-employment, since entry into insurance · satisfy the yearly average condition. The person concerned applied for State pension (contributory) in December 2008 and was...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The person concerned qualified for child benefit on the basis of her employment under EU Regulations 883/04 and 987/09. A review of her child benefit claim revealed that she is no longer in employment and must therefore satisfy the Habitual Residence Condition in order to retain her child benefit payment. Payment was disallowed as she does not satisfy the HRC condition.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Any person can apply for jobseeker's benefit or allowance but will only receive payment if they satisfy all the conditions of the schemes, including being available for and genuinely seeking work. Homeless persons have the same entitlements under the social welfare system as any other persons and are subject to the same qualifying conditions. If homeless persons are unemployed but capable...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The payment of rent supplement does not require the applicant to be on a local authority housing list. Where a claimant's safety and well-being are at risk Community Welfare Staff have been provided with special discretionary powers in such cases to expedite the award of rent supplement. In these cases the normal qualifying criteria are waived to ensure the provision of suitable and secure...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: In order to qualify for Domiciliary Care Allowance a child must have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months. Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance is not based primarily on the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Domiciliary Care Allowance can be paid in respect of children under 16 years of age who have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age. In the case in question the child reached sixteen years of age in December 2009.