Results 7,361-7,380 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Rent supplement continues its vital role in housing families and individuals for which the Government has provided  €132.4 million for 2019. Rent supplement recipients at year end and expenditure for 2018 is provided in the following tabular statement.  The strategic goal of returning rent supplement to its original purpose, that of a short-term income support, has been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Illness Benefit claim from the person concerned was interrupted on the 6th February 2019 pending confirmation of his employment status. An officer from the Department has since contacted the person concerned and payment was resumed from the 14th February.  The arrears of payment due to him will issue shortly. Medical certificates of incapacity should continue to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. A person can be considered to be providing full-time care and attention where they are engaged in employment,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Contracts Data (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department has a project governance committee which oversees all projects. This is a sub-committee of the management board and is chaired by the Secretary General. The Department has a strong governance structure and each project reports into a programme board which is normally chaired by a programme sponsor at Assistant Secretary level. The programme board in turn...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy (where available) is in the following tabular statements. The first table details both the number of claims pending at the end of the month and the number of appeals on hand for those schemes. The second table details the number of appeals on hand for additional schemes where, as a result of IT system limitations, the number of pending...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The following table provides details of the outcome of all appeals by scheme for 2018. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.  18,507 appeals were finalised in 2018. Appeals which...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 642 and 643 together. In January 2018, I announced the Government Decision to introduce a new interim Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to the calculation of State Pension (Contributory) for pensioners born on or after 1 September 1946, who were awarded state pension (contributory) under the post Budget 2012 rate bands.  This approach,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payment Data (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income.  An urgent needs payment (UNP) may be made to persons who may not normally qualify for SWA but who have an urgent need which they...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Data (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the following tabular statement. Recipient numbers for schemes for the period 2002-2018 inclusive have also been published online in excel format at welfare.ie. Tabular statement Year State Pension Non Contributory State Pension Contributory 2014 95,570 346,420 2015 95,179 361,725 2016 95,221 377,062 2017 95,140 394,378 2018...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension Eligibility (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 646 and 647 together. To qualify for a widow(er)’s or surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension, the surviving spouse must be deemed, under Irish State Law, to be the legal widow(er) of the deceased. The legislative provisions pertaining to the recognition of foreign divorces outside the State are set out in Section 5 of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 649 and 650 together. My Department is committed to ensuring that the principles of due process and natural justice are followed in all claim investigations and decisions.  This applies equally to decisions at initial claim stage and when claims are subsequently reviewed.The Department’s guidelines on Decision Making and Natural Justice are...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Hear, hear.

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Hear, hear.

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: I have no hesitation in expressing my full confidence in my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris. Once more, the later-day Robespierres of Sinn Féin have rolled their shabby guillotine into this Chamber, demanding a head. For a party that has never had to govern here and ran from government in the North, it is the easy thing to do. Its approach should be contrasted with...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Sinn Féin are giving great example.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Credited contributions (credits) can be awarded where a worker has a gap in their insurance record as a result of their absence from the workforce for reasons of, for example, unemployment, illness, or due to a statutory leave eg. maternity. Receipt of a social welfare payment, such as a widows pension, does not in itself automatically result in the award of credits and it is not proposed to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement on post Budget 2012 rate-bands. These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes provision for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Payments (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned is in receipt of Illness Benefit and is certified and paid, including any arrears, up to 13th February 2019. If the person concerned remains ill and unfit for work, a further medical certificate should be submitted as soon as possible in order for further payments to issue. I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Illness Benefit is a payment for persons who are medically certified as being incapable of work and who satisfy certain PRSI ( Pay Related Social Insurance ) conditions. One of these conditions is that a person is required to have 104 reckonable PRSI contributions paid since entering insurable employment. The records of the Department show that the person concerned does not have the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Data Protection (20 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 234 and 237 together. Articles 37, 38 and 39 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deal with the appointment and role of a Data Protection Officer (DPO). All public authorities and bodies including Government Departments are required to designate a DPO. My Department has assigned the DPO role to a senior manager at Principal level and also...