Results 9,001-9,020 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Medical Aids and Appliances Provision (18 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: The uptake of grants towards the purchase of hearing aids under the Departments Treatment benefit scheme has seen a 100% increase over the last 10 years, with almost €80m spent on the scheme over that period. Access to hearing aids is provided for under the Departments PRSI scheme and the HSE parallel scheme, which provides medical card holders with access to free hearing aids. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Medical Aids and Appliances Provision (18 Sep 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 number of applications for hearing aids under the scheme has been rising in recent years, from 7,500 grants paid in 2009 to 14,600 in 2018. The extension of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (18 Sep 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. I confirm that my department received an application for CA from the person concerned on 11 June 2019.  The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance Rates (19 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: Increasing the entry threshold for PRSI Class A from €38 to €100 would cost an estimated €11.8m in a full year and affect approximately 109,600 employments. This estimate is based on PRSI Class A contributions. It uses the latest available data and reflects macro-economic indicators for 2020. It should be noted that this estimate does not take into account any...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Treatment Benefit Scheme Eligibility (19 Sep 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. You may be entitled to credited social insurance contributions (PRSI) while you are getting CA. The Treatment Benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Maternity Leave (19 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 237 and 238 together. Maternity Benefit is paid for 26 weeks at a rate of €245 per week. The 2019 Estimates for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection provide for expenditure of approximately €256 million on Maternity Benefit. The estimated additional cost of extending the duration of maternity benefit is approximately...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave Expenditure (19 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: In Budget 2019 I announced the introduction of a new social insurance based parent’s benefit scheme to take effect in late 2019. The Department of Justice and Equality has policy responsibility for the new parent’s leave and my Department is responsible for the associated parent's benefit. The new scheme will provide two weeks leave to both parents, including...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Review (19 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: As the Deputy will be aware, the Government agreed to establish an Interdepartmental Group (IDG) to explore how social inclusion schemes might best be organised into the future including which Department should hold lead responsibility for sponsoring CE schemes focused on social Inclusion, the Rural Social Scheme and the Job Initiative scheme.  Meetings of the IDG have taken place...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (19 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am currently engaging with representatives of CE supervisors and assistant supervisors to discuss issues arising following the 2008 Labour Court Recommendation.  All parties to the engagement process have agreed that the detail of the discussions should remain confidential while the engagement is ongoing and I would ask Deputies to respect these wishes and allow the talks to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card Data (19 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: I meet with my officials, on an on-going basis, to discuss all matters relating to my Department, including the Public Services Card (PSC). The Client Identity Services Unit of the Department has policy and operational responsibility for public service identity issues, including the PSC.  That area is structured in a similar fashion to areas in all Government Departments,...

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

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 245 together. Civil servants taking up new employment following retirement or resignation from my Department are regulated under Section 20 of The Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour.  This states that any civil servant intending to be engaged in or connected with (i) any outside business with which he or she had official dealings or...

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

Regina Doherty: It is understood that the pensioner in question fell seriously ill while visiting her daughter who is residing in Ireland and that she now requires full-time care and attention.  Her daughter, who is providing full-time care and attention, initially qualified for Carer’s Benefit in June 2017 and following completion of the period of entitlement to that benefit, has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Eligibility (19 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (formerly Family Income Supplement) is a weekly tax free payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. Working Family Payment for the person concerned will continue in payment until the  9 October 2019, when working family payment is due for renewal. A renewal form issued to the person concerned on 31 July 2019. ...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: The true purpose of the letter forms part of the control measures we carry out annually to ensure that the limited budget goes to the people who are entitled to receive it. If there is a difficulty with the wording of the letter I will certainly look at it but there is no flexibility. The 21 days allowed to respond to the letter is outlined in the letter-----

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (24 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's Allowance is a means-tested payment for carers who look after certain people in need of care and attention on a full time basis. As of end of July 2019, there were 82,015 people in receipt of Carer's Allowance. The projected expenditure on Carer's Allowance in 2019 is almost €840 million. A primary qualifying condition for the Carer’s Allowance payment is that the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Living Wage (24 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: At 18th July, the number of staff in my Department on a wage less than €12.30 per hour is 1,185. All staff in my Department are on pre-determined salary scales negotiated and agreed at central level.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Data (24 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: Work is ongoing in my Department to tackle false self-employment across the economy. In that regard I am currently reallocating resources to this issue to understand, measure and quantify better the prevalence of false self-employment and obtain a sectoral analysis of its level of incidence. It is not possible to provide figures on money recouped on the sole basis of false...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Data (24 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: Government policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. Employment policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs and Future Jobs Ireland strategies have created an environment in which business can succeed and has led to the creation of more than 500,000 jobs since 2012. Secondly, through the Pathways to Work strategy, my Department ensures that as many of these new jobs as possible are filled...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (24 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: The interim Aggregated Contributions Method of Total Contribution Approach (TCA12) makes it easier for many post-2012 pensioners affected by the 2012 rate band changes and assessed under the yearly average model, to qualify for a higher rate of the State pension (contributory). When the Government decided, in January 2018, to announce an interim TCA option for those who had been affected...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (24 Sep 2019)

Regina Doherty: The purpose of the redundancy payments scheme is to compensate employees for the loss of their jobs, where the employer is unable to pay statutory redundancy due to financial difficulties or insolvency. The scheme is funded from the Social Insurance Fund (SIF). Up to 2011, the scheme provided a rebate of 60 per cent to employers who provided statutory redundancy payments to their...