Results 6,801-6,820 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Written Answers — Public Services Card: Public Services Card (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 228 together. The Department has developed, in conjunction with a number of other Government Departments, the specifications for a Public Services 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...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income 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. In recent years, a significant number of people have come to rely on rent supplement for extended periods,...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: The One-Parent Family Payment, by its nature, is not payable where the lone parent is co-habiting with the other parent of the child or with someone else as husband and wife. The Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents", which was published in 2006, proposed that the category of lone parenthood would be abolished. Instead, a parental allowance would be made to...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when 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 receipt of a...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: Traditionally, social insurance spending has been funded on a tripartite basis – with contributions coming from the Exchequer, employers and employees. Legally, the Exchequer is the residual financier of the fund and Exchequer contributions were the norm for over forty years – for example, in 1967, the State contribution was 38% of SIF expenditure and almost 29% in 1985. However, no...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 74 together. The Department operates a network of some 125 local and branch offices throughout the country. Each local office has officers who are dedicated to providing information and are available to explain supports and services to people. Information officers provide a range of information to customers on their entitlements including, in broad...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 67, 68, 256 and 261 together. The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. To this end, operational processes and procedures and the organisation of work are reviewed in all areas of the Department. These reviews are supported by modern technology, the potential of which is continuously harnessed. Claims are...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: No research was conducted on the impact of the removal of the Christmas bonus payment at family level or local retail level. In the current economic and financial crisis the Government's main priority must be to restore stability to the public finances. The measures necessary to achieve this will impact on everybody's living standards. The Supplementary Budget of April 2009 provided for...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: With effect from 19th July 2010, changes have been introduced to the back to education allowance scheme (BTEA) to increase flexibility in terms of accessing the scheme. The period for which a person is required to be on a qualifying social welfare payment before accessing BTEA was reduced from 12 months to 9 months (a 2 year qualifying period continues to apply to participants coming from...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Deputy will be aware that social welfare legislation does not currently provide for reimbursement to the Department by insurance companies in cases where adjustments may have been made to special damages awards on foot of social welfare payments received by plaintiffs. As I indicated in a recent reply on this issue, preliminary work has been undertaken by the Department in relation to...

Written Answers — Rental Accommodation Scheme: Rental Accommodation Scheme (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: 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 as an alternative to the other social housing schemes...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: Budget 2010 provided for a reduction in the rates of payments for jobseekers and other welfare recipients of working age. These reductions were made as part of the overall objective to reduce public expenditure and restore stability to the public finances. In the Supplementary Budget in 2009 and in Budget 2010, changes were also introduced in the level of weekly payments for new recipients...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme provides for a weekly or monthly supplement to be paid in respect of rent or mortgage interest to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive on behalf of the Department. The purpose of the rent...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: In addition, information regarding the scheme was circulated through a number of agencies including Forfás, the Small firms Association and IBEC. Information was also disseminated to the 3,754 people who have subscribed (free of charge) to the Department of Social Protection's PRSI mailing list. This mailing list primarily comprises employers and tax practitioners. Up to 19 November 2010,...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: My Department provides a number of supports to assist people who find themselves unemployed, which range from primary payments, such as jobseeker's benefit and assistance, to additional supports such as mortgage interest supplement, exceptional needs payments and back to school allowance. The mortgage interest supplement scheme provides short term income support to eligible people who are...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in this case. The person concerned will be informed when arrangements have been made. In order to be fair to all appellants, oral hearings are arranged in strict chronological order. There was a 46% increase in the number of...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (23 Nov 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. With effect from...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: The NFS1 application form is used by customers to apply for the national fuel scheme. This scheme is intended to help households that depend on long-term social welfare or Health Service Executive payments and are unable to pay for their own heating. The application form directs customers to send the completed form to the section of the Department that pays them. Customers in receipt of...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in this case. The person concerned will be informed when arrangements have been made. In order to be fair to all appellants, oral hearings are arranged in strict chronological order. There was a 46% increase in the number of...

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

Éamon Ó Cuív: With effect from 19th July 2010, changes have been introduced to back to education allowance (BTEA) to increase flexibility in terms of accessing the scheme. The period for which a person is required to be on a qualifying social welfare payment before accessing BTEA was reduced from 12 months to 9 months (a 2 year qualifying period continues to apply to participants coming from Illness...