Results 5,701-5,720 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Non-Contributory) Data (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Applicants for State pension non-contributory must be aged 66 or over, be permanently residing in the State, satisfying the habitual residence condition and a means test. The following tabular statement shows the numbers of recipients at the end of each year, reflecting a gradual downward trend as more people have sufficient contributions to qualify for State pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Reviews (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme is the safety net within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants. Basic weekly SWA may be paid to customers awaiting the outcome of a claim or an appeal for a primary social welfare payment.  In...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 18th September 2018.  It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer/Designated Person on the grounds of appeal be sought.  When these papers have been received from the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Deserted Wife's Benefit Data (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deserted Wife's Benefit scheme was closed to new applicants with effect from 2nd January 1997, when the One Parent Family Payment was introduced.  A total of 6,254 individuals continue to receive Deserted Wife’s Benefit because they qualified for the payment before 2nd January 1997. In order to continue to qualify for this payment, the claimant must...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension Data (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: From 1st January 2013 to date, 35,101 widow(er) or surviving civil partner's (contributory) pension claims have been stopped.  Of these, 30,096 claims were stopped due to the death of the claimant.  The remainder have been stopped for a variety of reasons including approximately 2,500 who moved to another payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The average appeal processing times for all appeals determined this year to the end of August broken down by all social welfare scheme types is outlined in the following table.  My Department, like all Government departments and agencies is required to operate within a staff ceiling figure and a commensurate administrative staffing budget, which for this Department has involved...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payment Data (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, one-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided over €36 million for exceptional payments in 2018. The ENP scheme is demand led and payments are made at the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Payments (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department experienced some delays following the introduction of a new system and forms for Illness Benefit. The change is part of an on-going programme of modernisation in the Department which took effect from Monday 6 August. Some GPs have continued to use the old forms after this changeover date which the Department has, to date, continued to accept in the interest of paying our...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy for raising this case. I will respond in two ways. First, I am the mother of somebody who is the same age as Rebecca. I have children at home who have just gone through the leaving certificate examination and who are going through it. The smile on that young lady's face yesterday was worth €1 million, and the pride and happiness of her parents show the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: In fairness, nobody was smiling at the fact that she had to go to the High Court, which I acknowledge the Deputy did not infer, but we were all happy to see her determination pay dividends. I hope that she gets what she wants before noon on Friday, which is a well deserved place to study to become a veterinarian in this country. The Deputy will be aware, as I am sure everybody else will be,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy is correct that the latest RTB data was published in the past 24 hours. The report on rents paints a much more nuanced picture than the headline. The Government is aware that quarterly trends are volatile and that because rents continue to increase, we face a considerable challenge. People are paying what we consider to be too much rent. Rents need to be controlled. Rents for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: In case the Deputy missed what I said in my initial response, I will repeat it. It is because the Government recognises the challenges in the market that it proposes to introduce, between now and Christmas, a rent register which will show the average rents street by street, town by town and county by county.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: It is because of those challenges the Government will introduce new rent protection measures through legislation in the Dáil, giving the RTB increased powers to interact with people on a case-by-case basis; continue to pursue measures that will see people having access to longer leases and thus stability in their home lives in the places they choose to rent; and introduce new measures to...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not know whether the Deputy has noticed but I am not the Taoiseach, nor am I in the habit of finishing anybody else's questions unlike him. However, increasing housing supply is the most fundamental and important issue on the agenda of our Cabinet and Government at the moment because it is raised at every Cabinet meeting and in every session of this Dáil. We intend to introduce...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not know what part of that the Deputy could disagree with but given his practice, I am sure he will find something to disagree with. The fundamental project for this Government is to ensure that anybody who wants to rent, purchase or mortgage a house is able to do so at an affordable rate according to their income. That is the fundamental premise behind what we are trying to do and it...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: That is good.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: If anything, the plans that the Government has announced and will continue to work on are inclusive. They are far from divisive. Building large scale social developments in the hundreds is divisive-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: It puts people in segregated areas when we want people to live happily together in communities and that is why mixed developments are the foundation of Government's policy. When we look at the indicators, the figures are trending positively. The number of new homes that have become available for use in the past 12 months to the end of June was 19,650 individual homes. That is a 24%...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Commencement notices are up to 19,451 units, a 17% increase from the previous year and registrations are up to 9,269 units, an increase of 9%. The numbers might not be going up as quickly as some people would like but what some Deputies cannot ignore, even though they will do their best to do so, is that the numbers are going in the right direction.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I acknowledge the development of the modular unit that both Deputy Mattie McGrath and a number of other Deputies, both past and present, in Tipperary have been fighting for in the last number of years. To see it reach its final stages and be a provision of service in the Deputy's county is an excellent result. I congratulate the Deputy and his constituency colleagues including my former...