Results 6,781-6,800 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Departmental Projects: Departmental Projects (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: My Department has not had any projects approved in 2007 which exceeded the threshold for a cost benefit analysis.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (27 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: Family Income Supplement is designed to provide income support for employees on low earnings with children and thereby preserve the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if s/he were claiming other Social Welfare payments. My Department received an application for Family Income Supplement from the person concerned on 19...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (27 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The back to education allowance (BTEA) is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to encourage and facilitate people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active work force. It is designed to assist people on long-term social welfare payments and is not intended for the general...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (27 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive payments with meeting the cost of their additional heating needs during the winter season. Fuel allowances are paid for 29 weeks from end-September to mid-April and are not intended to meet the full cost of heating. Some 274,000 people benefited from the fuel allowance in...

Written Answers — Interpretation Act 2005: Interpretation Act 2005 (27 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: In accordance with specific provisions of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 and the Pensions Act 1990, I am empowered to make regulations governing the operation and administration of the social welfare and supplementary pensions code. Given the nature and range of statutory social welfare schemes provided for in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, the regulations governing...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (27 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: Part III of the Pensions Act 1990 is designed to protect the pension entitlements built up by employees in a company pension scheme in the event of the person leaving his or her employment. The Act provides for the preservation of benefits accrued in an occupational pension scheme and the option for transferring such benefits to another pension scheme. All occupational pension schemes,...

Written Answers — Child Support: Child Support (28 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The Dublin/Mid-Leinster Area of the HSE has advised that it has no record of an application for BSCFA from the person concerned. If she wishes to apply, she should contact the Community Welfare Officer at her local health centre as...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (28 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme which includes rent and mortgage interest supplements is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive. A mortgage interest supplement provides short-term income support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (28 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The back to work allowance scheme is part of my Department's programme of initiatives designed to assist long term unemployed people, lone parents and other social welfare recipients to return to the active labour force. The allowance provides a monetary incentive designed to make return to work financially attractive and viable. It is not intended that back to work allowance be paid in all...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (28 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: Pre-retirement allowance is a means tested payment. A person whose spouse/partner takes up insurable employment with an employer will be assessed with the spouse/partner's earnings less deductions for Income Tax, PRSI, Superannuation, Trade Union subscriptions and Health Insurance premiums. If the spouse/partner works 3 days or less a week, a disregard of €50 plus travel allowance, where...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, provides for the payment of a rent supplement to assist eligible people who are unable to provide for their immediate accommodation needs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 329, 334, 336 and 339 together. The PRSI system is designed to provide income protection to employees and the self employed in insurable employment, with entitlement to benefits based on a person experiencing certain contingencies and satisfying prescribed contribution conditions. Insurable employment is employment which involves earnings from €38 per week...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: Under the Government decentralisation programme, this Department is due to decentralise all of its Dublin based headquarters sections, comprising some 1,210 staff, to six locations — Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon, Drogheda, Buncrana, Donegal and Carrickmacross. To date, under the decentralisation programme, 66 posts have relocated to Sligo and 62 posts to Carrick-on-Shannon. A further 68 posts...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the homemaker's scheme which was introduced in and took effect from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes. However, the scheme will...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is an income support for employees on low earnings with families. There are some 21,055 people in receipt of a weekly FIS payment with a current average weekly value of over €139. Entitlement to FIS is based on an applicant satisfying a means test and on certification of employment by the employer. My Department has publicised the scheme regularly in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: Since 2004, when the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) was asked to examine the feasibility of merging the family income supplement with qualified child increases and possibly including other child supports such as the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, there have been significant improvements in the area of child income supports to low-income families, many of which...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: The five statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, the Citizens Information Board (formerly Comhairle), the Family Support Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of my Department. No appointments have been made to any of the above Boards from 24th May 2007 to date....

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Government is committed to producing a Green Paper on pensions in accordance with the partnership agreement "Towards 2016". A draft has been completed by my Department in co-operation with the Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and the Pensions Board and this was submitted to the Government in April for its consideration. The development of an...

Written Answers — Tax and Social Welfare Codes: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: Self-employed (Class S) contributors are entitled to the following payments: Widow's/Widower's (Contributory) Pension; Orphan's (Contributory) Allowance; Old Age (Contributory) Pension; Maternity Benefit; Adoptive Benefit, and Bereavement Grant. When Class S was introduced for self-employed persons in 1988, coverage for both short-term insurance-based payments such as disability benefit and...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Jul 2007)

Martin Cullen: The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, which is administered by the Community Welfare Division of the Health Service Executive (HSE), is designed to provide immediate and flexible assistance for those in need who do not qualify for payment under other State schemes. Under the legislation governing the scheme, the Health Service Executive (HSE) may make an exceptional needs payment...