Results 6,781-6,800 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Job Creation (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No, I dealt with that earlier.

Job Creation (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Deputy knows that the employment services part of FÁS is being moved to the Department, so all the resources involved in placing people through FÁS will also now be part of a seamless service to be provided between facilitators and FÁS staff. They will not do exactly the same work but all the personnel will work together coherently. We could say that this is the Croke Park agreement...

Job Creation (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The purpose of bringing the employment service of FÁS to the Department is to provide a comprehensive service to unemployed people so they can be made aware of all the opportunities out there on a one-stop shop basis. I welcome the Deputy's support for this approach, which is fundamental to the changes made by the Taoiseach when he set up the Department of Social Protection. We have moved...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 and 69 together. The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social assistance schemes and child benefit with effect from 1st May 2004. A person who does not satisfy the habitual residence condition is not eligible for specified social welfare payments, regardless of citizenship, nationality,...

Written Answers — Departmental Responsibilities: Departmental Responsibilities (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: As the Deputy will be aware, the Taoiseach announced on 23rd March 2010 that the Department of Social and Family Affairs would be reconfigured as the Department of Social Protection with the transfer to it of a number of functions including the employment and community services programmes of FÁS and the transfer from it of functions relating to social inclusion and family supports. The...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the research report of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, titled "Minimum Essential Budgets for Six Household Types in Rural Areas". This was published last October and the launch was attended by an official from my Department. The report presents some very useful information and the updated findings will certainly be studied with...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 41 and 62 together. The Department of Social Protection already 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. Social welfare rates have increased at...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 42, 52 and 71 together. The National Pensions Framework seeks to increase pensions coverage for all employees. The Government's Green Paper on Pensions, published in 2007, acknowledges that occupational pension income for women is substantially lower than for men. This is undoubtedly due to a number of reasons, such as the level of female participation in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 43, 53, 75 and 77 together. The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social assistance schemes and child benefit with effect from 1st May 2004. The purpose of the habitual residence condition is to safeguard the social welfare system from abuse by restricting access for people who are not...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered by the Community Welfare Division of the Health Service Executive (HSE) on behalf of the Department. Under the current arrangement where a person is not satisfied with a decision in relation to their entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance, they can appeal this decision to an Appeals Officer in the HSE. In addition, the Social...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The purpose of rent supplement 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 scheme is intended as a temporary income support payment and is not designed to be a medium to long term housing support or a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46, 55, 56, 70 and 255 together. Social welfare expenditure for 2011, including expenditure on child income support payments, is currently being considered in the context of the preparation of the Departmental estimates for that year. Any plans to change the child benefit and family income supplement payments are a matter to be decided in a budgetary context...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The current budgetary position necessitated the changes made to social welfare benefits, including the dental treatment benefit scheme, in Budget 2010. From January 2010 the treatments available have been limited to a free dental examination. Current trends in 2010 indicate that around 280,000 people will receive the free dental examination. These have been retained in order to encourage...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: To be eligible for disability allowance, a claimant must (inter alia) satisfy a medical examination, a means test and be habitually resident in the state. The processing time for individual disability allowance claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main criteria listed above. Certain claims have to be referred to social welfare inspectors for...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The number of interviews or consultations that a jobseeker will attend over the course of his or her claim will vary from person to person. Customers claiming jobseeker's allowance may have to be interviewed by an inspector at the beginning of their claim and at any subsequent review of their means. Once a customer is three months on the Live Register, he or she will be selected for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There are approximately 17,800 persons currently in receipt of mortgage interest supplement (MIS). This represents a 120% increase since the end of 2008 when there were 8,100 recipients. The Department's review of the administrative, policy and legal aspects of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was published in July 2010 in conjunction with the interim report of the Mortgage Arrears...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The European Parliament proposal to extend maternity leave to 20 weeks and to introduce paternity leave of 2 weeks, both at full pay, will be discussed by the Council of Ministers in December 2010. In this regard, the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, who has primary responsibility in this area is liaising with my department. Ireland has been generally supportive of EU...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The most recent estimates indicate that raising the PRSI employee ceiling to €100,000 could result in an additional €52 million in contribution income in a full year.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: A key objective of my Department's control strategy is to ensure that the right person is paid the right amount of money at the right time. The emphasis is to minimise risks of fraud and eliminate incorrect payments. A four-pronged control strategy has been adopted by my Department, namely prevention of fraud and error at the initial claim stage, early detection through effective review of...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 58, 64 and 260 together. Social welfare expenditure for 2011 will be considered in the context of the forthcoming Budget, having regard both to needs and to the resources available to meet those needs. In an uncertain economic environment, my priority will be to ensure that the Government strategy to stabilise the financial position is advanced and to...