Results 6,181-6,200 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Housing Assistance Payment Data (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: Under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme, responsibility for the provision of rental assistance to those with a long-term housing need is transferring to local authorities. The strategic policy direction of my Department is to return rent supplement to its original purpose of being a short-term income support scheme. The HAP scheme has been rolled out on incremental basis since 2014...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave Expenditure (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: As part of Budget 2019, I was pleased to announce that 2 weeks paid parental benefit will be provided to both parents from late 2019 for the first year of a child’s life. This is in line with the Programme for Government commitment to prioritise additional paid parental leave in the first year. The projected cost of 2 weeks paid leave for both parents is €32m in a full year....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am informed that Foster Parents are paid a weekly allowance by Tusla of €325 for each child under the age of 12, and €352 for each child over the age of 12. These payments are not taxable, are not subject to PRSI deductions, and are not taken into account for the purposes of means tests administered by my Department, and there are no plans to change this. As a consequence, a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 101, 110 and 117 together. On 23 January last, the Government agreed to allow pensioners, born on or after the 1st September 1946, affected by the 2012 changes in rate bands, to have their state pension (contributory) entitlement calculated under an interim “Total Contributions Approach” (TCA). The changes also provide for up to 20 years of home...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. The focus of CE is on developing technical and personal skills to enable a person to return to the open labour market. Persons engaged are provided with work and training placements of 19½ hours duration per week...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested payment, made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested payment, made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Anti-Poverty Strategy (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The National Social Target for Poverty Reduction (NSTPR) was agreed by Government in 2012 and aimed to reduce consistent poverty from 6.3% in 2010 to 4% by 2016 (interim target) and to 2% or less by 2020. It was an ambitious target, particularly during a time of economic recession, but one to which the Government has remained committed. The most recent poverty data from the CSO Survey on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Employment Initiative (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Youth Employment Support Scheme (YESS) commenced on Monday 1st October 2018. A total of 100 vacancies have been advertised by 79 employers and, to date, 26 jobseekers have been successful in securing a placement. The type of placements offered to jobseekers are quite varied and are across a number of different sectors including retail, wholesale, IT, pharmaceutical, general services and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Data (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Jobseekers retain their jobseeker's payment and remain on the Live Register while engaged with JobPath unless they are placed in employment. Jobseekers may be supported through the service for up to 30...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Applications (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: Farm assist is a means-tested income support scheme for farmers. To qualify for the payment, a customer must be a farmer, farming land in the State, aged between 18 and 66 and satisfy a means test. The annual farm assist review form is a necessary part of the normal review process for these customers. Following the Comptroller and Auditor General examination of the Farm Assist scheme in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors are employees of private companies in the community and voluntary sector that receive public funding. They are not employees of my Department or public servants. There are currently 1,345 Supervisors/Assistant Supervisors employed with CE sponsor organisations. While my Department funds wages and training costs in respect of CE participants...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Unemployment Data (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Government’s primary strategy to tackle unemployment is twofold. First, through policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, which sets out Ireland’s policies in support of enterprise and employment growth. Second, through Pathways to Work to ensure that a substantial share of the jobs being created by economic recovery are filled by people taken from the Live Register....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Action Plan for Social Inclusion (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: Tackling poverty remains a fundamental aspiration of Irish society and the Programme for a Partnership Government includes a firm commitment to develop a new Integrated Framework for Social Inclusion, to tackle inequality and poverty. This will be a successor to the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 (NAPinclusion) and its 2015-2017 update which concluded last year. My...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Brexit Issues (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The 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 approximately...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: Bringing the long-term unemployed back into the workforce is a key priority for me, and I welcome the on-going reduction in the Live Register. As the Deputy will be aware, JobPath is a service which supports people who are long-term unemployed to secure and sustain full time paid employment. Two companies, Seetec and Turas Nua, have been contracted by my Department to deliver the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Data (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Jobseekers may be supported through the service for up to 30 months: under the service jobseekers have access to a personal adviser (PA) who works with them potentially over two phases. During...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 538 and 545 together. The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) is a second-chance education opportunity scheme designed to remove barriers to participate in second and third level education by enabling those who fulfil the eligibility criteria to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course. Community Employment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Illness Benefit claim for the person concerned is certified and paid up until 13th November 2018. If she remains ill and unfit for work, a further medical certificate should be submitted to the Department as soon as possible in order for further payments to issue. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Payments (13 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Occupational Injury Benefit claim for the person concerned is both certified and paid up to 14th November 2018. If he remains ill and unfit for work, a further medical certificate should be submitted to the Department as soon as possible to enable further payments to continue to issue. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.