Results 10,061-10,080 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Low Pay (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection role in relation to wage setting is restricted to the setting of the National Minimum Wage on the basis of recommendations from the Low Pay Commission. Legislation in relation to the setting of the National Minimum Wage has existed since 2000.  The Low Pay Commission was established in 2015 and its primary function is, on an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The introduction of a Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to establish the level of entitlement for all new state pension contributory claims was signalled by the then Government in the National Pensions Framework in 2010.  Consultation is a very important part of the development and design of the new pension.  With this in mind, I launched a public consultation on the design of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the different qualification criteria.  Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: As the Deputy is aware, my Department has executed the extension provisions in the existing contracts of both JobPath providers that will enable referrals to the JobPath service until end 2020.  This decision was made partly in relation to the uncertainty caused by the Brexit process and its potential implications for the Irish labour market.  This uncertainty remains and it was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance Data (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: At the end of October 2019 there were 452,317 recipients of the Household Benefits package.  According to the latest figures available to my Department, there has been an increase of almost 3,400 applications for the Household Benefits package in the period from January to October 2019.  This represents an increase of around nine percent (9%) on the number of applications...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Impact Assessment (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The revised estimates volume for my Department contains context and impact indicators including three with a specific poverty focus: the at-risk-of poverty rate before social transfers; the at-risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers and the consistent poverty rates. The most recent poverty data from the 2018 Survey on Income and Living Conditions was published by the CSO on 28...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am on record as stating very clearly that I am committed to tackling the issue of false self-employment. The deliberate mis-classification of a worker as a self-employed contractor, in a situation where they are actually working as an employee, is wrong.  I am progressing a number of initiatives to combat this. The existing Code of Practice is being revised to bring it up-to-date...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Administration (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Periodically, the Revenue Protection and Prosecutions Manager in Irish Rail submits a written request to my Department to ascertain whether a customer’s (details provided by Irish Rail) entitlement to Free Travel is valid or revoked and if revoked, from what date.  These written requests are made under section 132 of the Railway Safety Act 2005, as amended...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The JobPath employment service commenced in 2015 and, under the terms of the contracts signed with the providers, was to run for at least six years comprising two consecutive phases: phase one entailed four years of client referrals, while phase two entailed a ‘run off’ period during which time no additional clients were to be referred.  The contract includes an option to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Unemployment Levels (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Measurement of unemployment is solely the remit of the CSO, and the CSO’s Labour Force Survey is the official measurement of unemployment in the state.  Neither the Live Register nor the so-called "unemployment blackspots" can be used to measure unemployment in the state.   The concept of “unemployment blackspots” was developed by the CSO following the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Tús Programme (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Tús provides work placements for a twelve month period for those who are on the Live Register for a year or more.  The initiative helps break the cycle of long-term unemployment by providing a work routine and valuable work experience.  It is a positive initiative that enables people who are long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all of its customers.  This includes ensuring that requests for reviews of decisions on social welfare  claims are processed as soon as possible, and that the outcomes are notified promptly.  At all times, every effort is made to complete the reviews as efficiently as possible.  Measures to improve the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Public Services Card (PSC) was provided for in legislation in 1998 when it was introduced alongside the PPS Number to replace the previous Revenue and Social Insurance Number and the Social Services Card.  It acts as an identifier for access to a broad range of public services.  Successive Governments have since reaffirmed this policy both in Government decisions and through...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 76 together. Carer’s Allowance is a means-tested payment, made to a person who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that they require that level of full-time care.  As of end of October 2019, there were 83,085 people in receipt of Carer's Allowance. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Reviews (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department examines the impact of potential policy measures on income and poverty rates, as well as employment incentives, on an ongoing basis.  These measures include changing how income is treated in means assessments, and the level of income thresholds and disregards.  Analyses often involve carrying out a social impact assessment which estimates the likely...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the different qualification criteria.  Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Data (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: At the end of October there were 135,240 persons in receipt of a jobseeker's allowance payment from my Department, of this number 47,615 were in receipt of the payment on a short-term basis i.e. less than 1 year and the remaining 87,625 were long-term recipients i.e. greater than 1 year.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Inclusion Strategy (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The new Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 will include data from the 2018 EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), which was released by the CSO on 28 November, with any necessary adjustments made to the targets.  The new social inclusion strategy "Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2019-2025", is being finalised and I expect that it will be published shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension Eligibility (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Widow’s, Widower’s and Surviving Civil Partner’s pension is paid to the husband, wife or surviving civil partner of a deceased person and is available to those who satisfy the necessary PRSI contribution conditions, either on their own record or on that of the deceased spouse or civil partner, provided the applicant is not cohabiting.  The legal...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Consultation Process (4 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The consultation process for the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System comprised of written submissions, consultation seminars, an online survey and focus groups. Four regional consultation seminars were held in Dublin (2), Cork and Galway. As part of the consultation phase of the development of Pathways to Work 2020 - 2024 , five regional consultation workshops took place, hosted...