Results 9,561-9,580 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Allowance (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance for people with a disability aged between 16 and 66 with a disability expected to last for at least one year and who satisfy the medical condition, means test and are habitually resident in Ireland. The number of persons in receipt of DA at the end of the years 2015 to 2019 are outlined in the table below: The Deputy will notice that there is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: As at end August 2020, there are 95,396 primary state pension non-contributory recipients. The Deputy will see from the year end recipient numbers over the past 5 years, provided in the table below, that the numbers have remained relatively consistent over the 5 year period. As at No. SPNC Recipients (personal rate) 31 December 2019 94,854 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Invalidity Pension (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The table below shows the number of persons in receipt of an Invalidity Pension for the period requested. There has been a slight increase over the past few years . Period requested No. of Persons in Receipt of Invalidity Pension 31/12/2019 58,168 31/12/2018 57,768 31/12/2017 57,504 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has a comprehensive business continuity management programme in place for many years through which the Department aims to maintain delivery of key services during and following a disruption to business. The focus of the Department's contingency plan is to ensure the safety and welfare of customers and staff and to ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The number of dental claims received and paid each year since 2015 to date is detailed below. Year Dental claims paid 2015 312,619 2016 319,583 2017 417,336 2018 812,758 2019 833,781 2020 to Sept 1st 510,104 I trust this clarifies...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The number of optical claims received and paid each year since 2015 to date is detailed below. Year Optical claims paid 2015 163,974 2016 164,469 2017 229,240 2018 451,249 2019 452,311 2020 to Sept 1st 281,544 I trust this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The time taken to process an appeal reflects a number of factors including that the appeals process is a quasi-judicial process with Appeals Officers being required to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Application Forms (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. I am pleased to report that the time taken to process new claims for Carer’s Allowance (CA), Carers Benefit (CARB), Disability Allowance (DA) and Invalidity Pension (INVP) have...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Employment (CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis. In general, the period of participation on CE is for one year. However, CE participants who are working towards a major...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The State Pension (Contributory) is a PRSI-based pension, financed by contributions made by current workers and their employers, and paid to pensioners, at a rate based upon their PRSI record when working. Those with few or no PRSI contributions paid over the years may alternatively qualify for the State Pension (Non-Contributory), which is a means-tested pension, financed by the Exchequer,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Redundancy Payments Acts provide for the making of payments by employers to employees in respect of redundancy. It is the employer’s responsibility to pay statutory redundancy payments to all eligible employees. In the event that an employer fails to pay, an application for payment from the Social Insurance Fund may be submitted to the Department. When such a redundancy payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Tax Yield (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The estimated additional revenue that would be raised by increasing the two employers’ rates of PRSI by 2%, that is from 8.80% to 10.80% and 11.05% to 13.05%, would be €1.6 billion. This estimate does not take into account any possible changes in employer behaviour arising from increasing the rate. Nor does it take into consideration any of the impacts arising from the measures...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Tax Yield (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The estimated additional revenue that would be raised by establishing a new employer PRSI rate of 19.75% for incomes over €90,000 per year and increasing the PRSI rate for incomes not exceeding €90,000 per year from 11.05% to 13.05% while maintaining the lower PRSI rate of 8.80% for incomes not exceeding €395 per week, would be c.€2.6 billion. This estimate does...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The payment stopped for this customer as he failed to confirm his continued eligibility as required. To date no further application has been received from him. When a new claim is received it will be examined in accordance with the guidelines. Should he have any difficulties with the application process he should contact his nearest Intreo Centre for assistance. I trust this clarifies the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is now paid at three rates. Age and sex breakdowns at the payable PUP rates are published each week at . The breakdown by sector is provided in the table below. The Deputy should note that the sector breakdowns are based on the sector of the last known employer and may not reflect the current sector of self-employed PUP recipients. Table 1: PUP...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of this year, Ireland has witnessed unprecedented rise in levels of unemployment. Research published by my Department found that young people in particular have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and are over-represented in the sectors most affected by public health restrictions (hospitality, retail and accommodation). Even though the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government commits to introducing a Retirement Payment for 65 year olds paid at the same rate as Jobseeker's Benefit without a requirement to sign on, partake in any activation measures or be available for and genuinely seeking work. I wish to assure the Deputy that I have made the introduction of the new Retirement Payment an immediate priority for my Department. Officials...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government “Our Shared Future” states that the planned increase in the State Pension Age next year will be deferred. The State Pension Age will remain at 66 years. This will require amendment to primary legislation and the Government will bring the necessary legislation before the Oireachtas later this year. I hope that there will be cross party support for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 572 to 579, inclusive, together. The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the tables below. The Pandemic Unemployment numbers refer to the week ending 26th September 2020. Table 1: Recipients of specified payments in County Longford by requested age profiles at the end of August 2020 Longford 18 – 21 Years 22...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: CLÁR Programme (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The CLÁR programme provides funding for small scale projects in rural areas that have experienced significant levels of de-population. As the Deputy is aware, no funding was available for new applications under the programme between 2010 and 2016 due to constraints on the public finances. Since the programme was relaunched in 2016, it has supported a range of different Measures...