Results 8,361-8,380 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Yes, that is because we want to activate people and get them real jobs. That is the ambition.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The introduction of a total contributions approach to establishing the level of entitlement for all new State pension contributory claims was signalled by the then Government in the national pensions framework in 2010. At that time, it set a target date of 2020 for the implementation of a total contributions approach, TCA. More recently, the Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-23 targeted...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The difficulty is Deputy Curran is asking me to give Deputies the policy before the Government has decided to give me the green light to proceed with the policy. I have to be honest and tell him that I will not be in a position to do what he is asking. However, I will certainly be in a position to give Deputies the heads of the Bill on the day they are published. At that point, I would...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The heads of a Bill will go through rigorous pre-legislative scrutiny. As such, the legislation may be changed from the original offering. There are many rounds involved in getting legislation passed. Sometimes legislation does not end up looking like it did originally. Deputies will have ample input and I will value that input to get this over the line. That is what we want to do.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance Fund (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The new scheme for self-employed persons, which I announced as part of the budget last year, will extend social insurance contribution-based benefits to those who are self-employed in circumstances where they become unemployed. This measure is only part of the Government's stated aim of creating what should be a supportive environment for entrepreneurship, including providing an income...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance Fund (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I concur with Deputy Penrose on how difficult it was to satisfy the means test for the allowance that was made available some years ago. That is why the new legislation relating to the new jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed is exceptionally simple. It should be simple. The arrangement should be exactly the same as that for employed persons. The question of how best to store up or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance Fund (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy is absolutely right but we need to strike a balance such that when we include the enforcement powers in respect of what we do not want people to do, they really work, in addition to our introducing employment rights and contribution payment rights for the self-employed. The Deputy is correct that there is a balance to be struck.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I have been speaking an awful lot about child poverty, lone parents and people living with disabilities in the two years in which I have been privileged enough to be in this position. They need the attention they would not have been given heretofore. The national policy framework for children and young people, called Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, includes a target to reduce, by two...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I will briefly outline some of the things we have done in the past couple of years that I hope will make a significant impact on the next body of SILC data that emerge, for the end of 2018 and perhaps 2019. The first thing I set out to do was decrease the income disregards for lone parents that had been introduced in 2012. I am happy to say they are all fully reversed. We can still go...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I slightly disagree with the Deputy. While I am 100% behind the fact that child benefit is a universal payment and should remain so, I believe that if we increase it, it will not address the needs of those living in poverty in a really targeted way. It would cost an extensive amount of money and this would, perhaps, stop us from addressing the needs of those living in poverty in a targeted way.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy is killing me now and I will be slaughtered for saying that if we have money this year - it will depend on Brexit, the budgetary context and all that good stuff - I would love to see it go specifically towards increasing the qualified child allowance and target specifically the needs of lone parents and the costs associated with disabilities. I refer to genuine targeting as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (30 May 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 based on post Budget 2012 rate-bands.  These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes provision...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Data Protection (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 33 together. My Department received the Data Protection Commissioner's draft investigation report in respect of the Public Services Card in August 2018. The draft report contained a number of provisional findings and requested further information and clarifications on certain matters.  The Department was specifically asked by the office of the Data...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am committed to reducing child poverty levels in Ireland. My Department is currently working on a new Roadmap for Social Inclusion which includes concrete commitments, policies and strategies in to reduce child poverty.  The Roadmap will include targets designed to address poverty and social exclusion including specific targets in relation to child poverty.  I expect to bring the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Administration (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Farm assist is a means-tested income support scheme for farmers.  The annual Farm Assist review form is designed to ensure that the correct level of payment is made to the customer, taking into account any changes in circumstances that may have occurred in the past year. The means test for Farm Assist takes account of all income sources with certain disregards applicable to specific...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17, 31 and 40 together. As stated in the 'The Roadmap for Pensions Reform', the Government proposes to begin implementation of a supplementary retirement savings system, known as Automatic Enrolment, by 2022.  It will see employees without personal retirement savings automatically enrolled into a quality assured retirement savings system,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Programmes (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department is currently finalising a new Roadmap for Social Inclusion for the period 2019-2025.  It will have a ‘whole of government’ approach which recognises the shared responsibility across Government to achieve improved outcomes for the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society. I am bringing the Roadmap for Social Inclusion to Government very soon...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: 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.  All claim decisions taken by the Department’s Deciding Officers and Designated Persons are appealable to the Chief Appeals...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Review (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means tested payment, made to people who are providing full-time care and attention to elderly people or to people with disabilities and whose income falls below certain limits.  The principal conditions for receipt of the allowance are that full time care and attention is required and being provided and that the means test which applies is satisfied. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Treatment Benefit Scheme (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Department’s Medical Appliance scheme, which provides grants to assist in the purchase of hearing aids, is available to those who have the required number of PRSI contributions and their dependant spouse / partners.  The numbers claiming under the scheme over recent years and the payments made by my Department bear testimony to the important contribution the scheme is making...