Results 7,981-8,000 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: Each year rent supplement is paid in respect of over 900 tenancies where the landlord is living outside the State. The total value of such payments is of the order of â¬4 million or approximately 1% of total expenditure on rent supplement. Payment is made directly to some 130 of these landlords domiciled outside of the State in respect of approximately 150 such tenancies. The value of...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: Potentially, it could cost millions in information technology systems to do this. I am not so sure that is the correct use of taxpayers' resources. As I said, we are discussing this matter with Revenue to see if there are alternative methods to do this.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I do not like using the fact the numbers are very small but there must be proportionality which is quite obvious. Some â¬950,000, just under â¬1 million, is less than one quarter of 1% of what we pay out. Changing the entire information technology systems in the Department to accommodate that would be proportional.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment which provides income support to people who provide certain older people or people with a disability with full-time care and attention and whose incomes fall below a certain limit. The carer's allowance means test has been eased significantly in the past few years, most notably with the introduction of disregards of spouses' earnings. In...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I accept that.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I accept that.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: The Deputy is making a fundamental point in respect of the existing support scheme. Effectively, she is saying that people should be paid for caring. That is the impact of what she is saying.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: We do not have unlimited resources and we are obliged to try to manage what resources we do possess in the best way possible. The Government has come a hell of a long way in recent years in the context of the supports provided for carers. The scheme has become much more flexible, it accommodates many more people and the income disregards relating to it are excellent. I will try to do more,...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: On the final point made by Deputy Shortall, people are not precluded from payment. All applicants, regardless of nationality, are required to be habitually resident in the State to qualify for carer's allowance. The question of what constitutes a person's habitual residence is decided in accordance with European Court of Justice case law, which sets out the criteria to be applied in...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I will give Deputies a flavour of these cases without mentioning names. A widow returned from the United Kingdom in 2005, having lived there since 1960, and applied for carer's allowance in October that year in respect of her two sons. She was asked to clarify details of her residency in the United Kingdom but no response was received. Her claim was refused on the grounds that she had...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I did not say the Deputy was.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: There is a great deal of logic behind it.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: Waiting days have been a feature of the illness benefit and jobseeker's payment schemes since their inception and are a feature of similar social security schemes in many countries. The application of a three-day waiting period avoids the disproportionately high administrative costs involved in processing large numbers of claims of short duration. The waiting day rule is not applied in...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: All social assistance payments are subject to a means test. This is a way of checking whether a person has enough means to support himself or herself and deciding the level of payment, if any, for which a person may qualify. Means are any income belonging to a claimant, or his or her partner. This includes property, except a family home or an asset that can provide a person with an income....
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I have good news for the Deputy.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I have taken the opportunity, in dealing with this, to go to some post offices, unannounced, to talk to customers. In fairness they seemed happy enough, although a few issues, here and there, were raised. One of the points made to me was that sometimes those who pronounce on such matters believe that once people reach 65 they become stupid and are not able to manage these things at all....
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I am talking about pension payments, the EIT payments which, either Deputy Shortall or Deputy Enright suggested the other day were restricted to 20 days. That is not the case â it is 60 days. Even if it falls outside that time limit, a customer may reapply and the money will be paid to him or her anyway.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I am not sure of the position as regards child benefit. Is the Deputy sure of this?
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: I looked into this when it was raised by the Deputies and I was told it was 60 days. I have not been specific in my answer, apart from saying that it is so for pensions. However, there seems to be a question that it might not be 20 days either for children's allowance, but I shall check that.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008: Report and Final Stages (4 Mar 2008)
Martin Cullen: We discussed this issue on Committee Stage. The Deputy presents the case as if the individuals concerned were disadvantaged. I would not say they are because they receive the foster payment, which can be â¬319 per week for each child under 12 years and â¬346 per week for every child over the age of 12. One cannot receive both payments. The case outlined by the Deputy highlights an...