Results 861-880 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The Deputy is referring to the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre report card Number 6 on child poverty in rich countries 2005. The report shows that, Ireland, at 15.7% based on 2000 data, had the fifth highest relative child poverty rate among 26 OECD countries. There have been major increases in average incomes and employment rates in recent years and a high level of growth in two income...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 115, 160 and 162 together. My Department provides a range of payments to families with children. These include child benefit, child dependant allowances and family income supplement. Child benefit is a non-means tested payment made to families regardless of employment status. It, therefore, supports all children but delivers proportionately more assistance to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department issues over 500,000 cheques every month and, as a general rule, there are no problems regarding the encashment of cheques. On rare occasions, it has happened that people have experienced difficulty in cashing their cheques because of inadequate identification. Any such problems are resolved on a case by case basis. Cheques are but one of a range of payment methods offered to...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The introduction of a personal advocacy service aimed specifically at people with disabilities is provided for in the Comhairle (Amendment) Bill 2004, which was published last September in conjunction with the Disability Bill 2004, and outline sectoral plans and as part of the Government's national disability strategy. The Comhairle (Amendment) Bill 2004 is intended to confer additional and...

Written Answers — Public Service Cards: Public Service Cards (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department and the Department of Finance are managing a programme of work to develop a framework within which public service cards could be deployed. Following approval from Government in June 2004, this programme of work was commenced to develop a standards based framework for public service cards using the personal public service number, PPSN, as a unique identifier. The programme is...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department operates a number of schemes which provide income support to persons who are unfit to work because of illness. These payments include, for example, the disability benefit and invalidity pension schemes and the means tested disability allowance. In addition, there is a further range of benefits available under the occupational injury benefits scheme for people who have been...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The back to education allowance, BTEA, is a second chance education opportunities programme designed to encourage and to facilitate people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications. The objective is to increase their prospects of returning to the active work force and reduce the risk of them becoming dependent on social welfare on a long-term basis. The...

Written Answers — Family Rights: Family Rights (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Families and family life in Ireland have been undergoing profound change in recent decades, which includes the significant growth in the proportion of families headed by lone parents. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Constitution, in inviting submissions, has specifically stated that account will be taken of these developments in their consideration of the possible need for changes to...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 126, 130 and 135 together. The Family Support Agency, which was established in May 2003, brings together family support programmes and services introduced by the Government in recent years. The agency's main functions are to: provide a family mediation service throughout the country; support, promote and develop the provision of marriage and relationship...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department assists and encourages the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities and other long-term welfare recipients to return to work, training or further education through a range of measures administered by my Department's social and family support service. One significant measure is the back to work allowance scheme which incentivises and encourages long-term unemployed people,...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 128, 131 and 133 together. There are two main indicators for measuring poverty. The first measures the proportion at risk of poverty by virtue of the income they receive. This is the general indicator used by the European Union and it is based on an income threshold of 60% of median income. A new EU survey on income and living conditions, EU-SILC, carried out...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 141 together. The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social assistance schemes and child benefit with effect from 1 May 2004. The basis for the restriction contained in the new rules is the applicant's habitual residence. The restriction is not based on citizenship, nationality,...

Written Answers — Nursing Home Charges: Nursing Home Charges (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 136, 308 and 328 together. I understand that my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, will shortly be bringing proposals to Government in respect of repayments to residents and former residents of publicly-funded long stay care places. During the period in question, my Department paid affected persons their full pension and other...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The report Inclusion is Everyone's Business was launched by the Taoiseach on 28 February 2005 and examines Dublin city in terms of demography, socio-economic factors, levels of affluence, deprivation and social exclusion. I welcome the report as an important milestone in the process of developing integrated anti-poverty strategies at local level to underpin and strengthen the overall national...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland made a submission to my Department in February 2005 setting out its views on how the operation of the habitual residence condition impacts on migrant workers and their families. While the submission claimed that the habitual residence condition is causing undue hardship and in effect placing vulnerable people's lives and safety at risk it did not provide any...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 145 and 148 together. The current national action plan against poverty and social exclusion which covers the period 2003-05 sets out in detail the actions being taken by Government to give effect to its strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion. The plan sets out commitments and targets for all relevant Government Departments aimed at meeting the Lisbon...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 146 and 154 together. The supplementary welfare scheme is being reviewed as part of my Department's programme of expenditure reviews. The review is being carried out by an inter-departmental working group chaired by my Department, including the Department of Finance, the Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive. The review involves a...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Under my Department's families research programme to date, 14 reports have been published on a range of issues such as parenting, family formation, family well-being, marriage and relationships counselling and children's experiences of parental separation. Two of the 14 research projects dealt specifically with men's issues. A report entitled Young Men on the Margins, published in April 2004,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: This question relates to media reports regarding comments made by a District Court judge during the course of a court hearing in a case taken by my Department. As the Deputy is aware, the case in question is still before the courts and, in these circumstances, it would be inappropriate of me to comment at this stage.

Written Answers — Child Support: Child Support (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Applicants for one-parent family payment are required to make ongoing efforts to look for adequate maintenance from their former spouses, or, in the case of unmarried applicants, the other parent of their child. Normally, this maintenance is obtained by way of negotiation or by court order, though separated couples are increasingly using my Department's family mediation service which is being...