Results 5,641-5,660 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Social Welfare Appeals (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is not necessarily true.

Social Welfare Appeals (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No.

Social Welfare Appeals (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: It is not just a question of the number of appeals officers; a lot of other issues and fronts are involved. We have appointed extra appeals officers and are taking on temporary ones. Medical officers are an issue because in some case medical examinations are involved.

Social Welfare Appeals (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is only a small part of the issue. For example, as the Deputy is probably aware, in a lot of cases where further information is provided there is a short circuit system which goes back to the Department. The Deputy can be assured that I will be working with the appeals office to try to address this issue on all fronts, including information technology, better work methods and so on. I...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Social Insurance Fund (SIF) operates under the terms of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. The Fund comprises a current account and an investment account. The Minister for Social Protection manages and controls the current account from which benefit payments are made, while the Minister for Finance, through the National Treasury Management Agency manages the investment account....

Written Answers — Employment Action Plan: Employment Action Plan (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The national employment action plan (NEAP) is the main welfare to work measure under which all persons between the ages of 18 and 65 years who are approaching 3 months on the live register are identified by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and referred to FÁS for interview with a view to assisting them enter/re-enter the labour market. The provisions contained in the Social...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Despite significant State spending on one-parent families the results have been poor in terms of tackling poverty and social exclusion and encouraging economic independence. Social welfare supports for lone parents should be designed to prevent long-term dependence on welfare and facilitate financial independence. The changes to the One-Parent Family Payment that are outlined in the Social...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The recently published National Pensions Framework is the Government's plan for pension reform. It encompasses all aspects of pensions, including social welfare pensions, private occupational pensions and public sector pension reform. Development of the framework was informed by the range of views raised during the comprehensive consultation process which followed publication of the Green...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 54 together. The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of the Department. A key objective of the Department's control strategy is to ensure that the right person is paid the right amount of money at the right time. A four-pronged control strategy has been adopted by the Department, namely...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: In 2009, 16,574 new claims for carer's allowance were received. Of those, 10, 798 (or just over 65%) were awarded and 5776 (or just under 35%) were rejected. In 2010 to date, 8,959 new carer's allowance claims have been received of which 5,806 (almost 65%) have been awarded and 3,153 (just over 35%) rejected. Accurate statistics relating specifically to the outcome of appeals against...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 48, 55, 66, 71 and 85 together. The national average processing times for jobseeker claims decided during May was 2.43 weeks for jobseeker's benefit and 6.58 weeks for jobseeker's allowance. Processing times can be affected by the requirements of the schemes such as the necessity for a means assessment or it may be necessary to ascertain details of foreign...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 49, 69 and 79 together. The Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents", was published in 2006 and can be viewed at http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Policy/PolicyPublications/Families/ Documents/prop_lp.pdf. It put forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents, the extension...

Written Answers — National Carer's Strategy: National Carer's Strategy (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: During 2008, an interdepartmental group, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, with secretariat support provided by my Department, undertook work, including a public consultation process, to develop a National Carers' Strategy. However, because of the prevailing economic situation, it was not possible to set targets or time limits which could be achieved. In that context, rather than...

Written Answers — Money Advice and Budgeting Service: Money Advice and Budgeting Service (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 64 together. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) assists people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. The role of money advisers is to help clients to assess their financial situation, make a budget plan and deal with creditors. MABS is now dealing with increasingly complex debt situations in respect...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52, 63 and 70 together. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Facilitators work closely with FÁS and other agencies, at national and local level, to identify appropriate training and developmental programmes for social welfare recipients of working age to enhance the skills those individuals have and, ultimately, improve their employments chances as well as helping them to develop personally. The facilitator service is available to social welfare...

Written Answers — Public Service Card: Public Service Card (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Department has developed, in conjunction with a number of other Government Departments, the specifications for a Public Service Card (PSC) under the Standard Authentication Framework Environment, or SAFE, programme. The specification provides for identification features, including a photograph. The aim is to develop a card that acts as a key for access to public services in general,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The back to education allowance (BTEA) scheme is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education by enabling eligible people on social welfare to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held. The back to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when their children start school each autumn. The allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but only to provide assistance towards these costs. A person may qualify for payment of an allowance if they are in...

Written Answers — Carbon Levy: Carbon Levy (29 Jun 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 and 68 together. The Department of Social Protection assists low income households with heating costs through their basic payments, through the fuel allowance scheme and through the household benefits package of electricity and gas allowances. These schemes have been improved significantly in recent years. The fuel allowance is paid for 32 weeks each year...