Results 961-980 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (28 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: On 22 April 2005, there were 16,726 persons under the age of 25 years in receipt of an unemployment assistance payment. Of these, some 1,332 received a part-payment as they were employed on a casual or part-time basis. In addition, some 4,253 persons under the age of 25 years were claiming unemployment assistance but not receiving a payment. Of these, 50 are being disallowed, 1,106 are...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (28 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, provides assistance to eligible people who have little or no income. The Dublin/mid-Leinster area of the executive has advised that payment of a basic supplementary welfare allowance and rent supplement to the person concerned ceased when she ceased...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (28 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The respite care grant is an annual payment for carers who look after certain people in need of full-time care and attention. Both the carer and person in receipt of care must satisfy certain conditions. The carer must be aged 16 years or over; ordinarily resident in the State;caring for the relevant person on a full-time basis; living with the person being cared for or, if not, contactable...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Rent supplements are provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Rent supplements are subject to a means test and are normally calculated to ensure that an eligible person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The group concerned applied to the family support agency, FSA, for inclusion in the family and community services resource centre, FRC, programme in June 2004. FSA officials visited this group in March 2005. A report on the meeting was prepared which included an overall assessment of the application. This will be submitted for consideration to a committee established by the board of the...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Family resource centres are funded under the family and community services resource centre, FRC, programme which is administered by the family support agency. The aim of the FRC programme is essentially to help combat disadvantage by improving the function of the family unit. The emphasis in the centres is on the involvement of local communities in developing approaches to tackle the problems...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In August 1986, Craig Gardner Consultants were commissioned to examine the major payment systems in my Department with a view to establishing where they were most at risk and to advise on cost effective measures to keep these risks to a minimum. The consultants submitted three reports containing a number of recommendations covering operational and organisational arrangements and about...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The following anti-fraud initiatives were enacted in the last ten years. Section 22 of the Social Welfare Act 1998 amended the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993 to provide that persons who fail to provide information to the Minister about persons or class of persons, as may be prescribed, shall be guilty of an offence. Section 26 of the Social Welfare Act 1999 amended section 212 of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The aim of my Department's control policy is to prevent fraud and abuse. A key aspect of control policy is deterrence and effective debt management is seen as an integral part of the deterrent approach. Use of section 219 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 1993 as a method of overpayment recovery, in appropriate cases, is one element of my Department's debt management policy. Under this...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The development of a public service card was one of a number of objectives set for the Reach agency at the launch of the Reach initiative in 1999 and 2000. The objectives included the establishment and use of the personal public service, PPS, number as the common customer identifier and the development and acceptance of the public service card as the citizen's key to services. Reach pursued...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 290 to 292, inclusive, together. In 1991, responsibility for the allocation of RSI numbers, which were subsequently renamed personal public service, PPS, numbers in 1998, transferred from the Revenue Commissioners to my Department. In 1991, it was proposed by my Department and agreed with the Department of Finance to replace the cardboard registration card...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 293 and 294 together. Current payment options for old age pensions include payment at post offices by means of a pension order book and direct payment to customers' bank, building society or post office savings accounts. My objective is to ensure that a range of payment options is available to customers and that service is continually improved by providing...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, provides for the payment of a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of rent to assist an eligible person who is unable to provide for his or her accommodation costs from his or her own resources and who does not have accommodation available from...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders who are in receipt of long-term social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their extra heating needs during the winter season. It is not intended to meet the full cost of fuel. A fuel allowance of €9 per week, €12.90 in designated urban smokeless fuel zones, is payable to eligible households for a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Under the treatment benefit scheme administered by my Department, persons insured under the Social Welfare Acts and their dependent spouses can avail of benefit in respect of a certain range of dental, optical and aural services subject to satisfying certain contribution conditions. To qualify for medical appliance benefit an insured person who reached 66 years before July 1992 is required to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department issues over half a million cheques every month and, as a general rule, there are no problems regarding their encashment. Occasionally, people experience difficulty in cashing their cheques, mainly because of inadequate identification. Such problems were resolved on a case by case basis. Cheques are but one of a range of payment methods offered to customers and would account for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Rent supplements are available through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department has any function in determining entitlement in individual cases. In general, people in full-time education are excluded from receiving assistance, including rent supplements, under...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 300 and 301 together. It has not been possible in the time available to examine comprehensively the details of the case mentioned by the Deputy. I will write to him shortly in regard to this matter.

Written Answers — Departmental Funding: Departmental Funding (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The centre concerned is one of a number of organisations which are funded under my Department's scheme of grants for the development and promotion of information and welfare rights. Since its establishment in 1975, the centre has been funded exclusively by State agencies, including the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, with my Department taking over direct funding in 1995....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The position remains as advised in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 284, which I answered for the Deputy on 8 March 2005. The Dublin-mid-Leinster area of the Health Service Executive has advised that it has no record of an application for rent supplement from the person concerned. If the person concerned wishes to apply she should contact the community welfare officer at her local...