Results 1,061-1,080 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: There were 25 participant organisations in the platform, including the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, the Simon Community of Ireland, the Migrants Rights Centre and the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. I am available at all times to meet those groups and hear what they have to say. It is probably not the occasion to make a wider statement on the poverty issues raised...

Order of Business (Resumed). (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The Bill fell off the list.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Diet supplements are provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Any person receiving a social welfare or health service executive payment, who has been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition and who is unable to provide for his or her food needs from...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 55, 72, 85, 107 and 122 together. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. It provides for the payment of a weekly or monthly rent or mortgage interest supplement to assist eligible people who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own...

Written Answers — Budgeting Advice: Budgeting Advice (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department has overall responsibility for the money advice and budgeting service, MABS, which provides assistance to people who are over indebted. The service is targeted at those who are on low income or in receipt of social welfare payments and also those with poor literacy and numeracy skills. There are 52 MABS companies located in 65 offices throughout the country. More than 16,000 new...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 57, 104, 113, 126, 246 and 258 to 260, inclusive, together. The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment which provides income support to people who are providing certain elderly or incapacitated persons with full-time care and attention and whose incomes fall below a certain limit. The primary objective of the social welfare system is to provide...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I recently met representatives of the National Women's Council of Ireland to discuss their proposals for reform of the social welfare system so as to better reflect the position of women. The comprehensive set of proposals are based on research commissioned by the council and entitled "A Woman's Model of Social Welfare Reform". It was not possible to deal directly with all aspects of the...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Tackling child poverty has been and continues to be among my key priorities. Strategies to address child poverty and the measures to give effect to them are set out in the national action plan against poverty and social exclusion and in the national children's strategy. The importance of tackling child poverty is reflected in the fact that "Ending Child Poverty" is one of ten Sustaining...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 60, 68 and 117 together. The construction federation operatives pension scheme is constituted as a registered employment agreement under the Industrial Relations Act 1946. The agreement was put in place in 1969 and it requires employers in the industry to provide specific pension benefits for their direct employees. Responsibility for various aspects of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: A special Christmas bonus payment was first introduced in December 1980 for social welfare pensioners and people who depend solely on their social welfare payments for income support. There have been a number of developments in this scheme since its inception, including changes in the level of the bonus payments, the introduction of a minimum payment and the extension of the categories of...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 62, 92 and 116 together. The current national action plan against poverty and social exclusion, which covers the period 2003 to 2005, 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 Departments to work towards meeting the...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 63 and 265 together. In common with other European countries, the population of Ireland is aging as a result of a combination of increasing life expectancy and a declining birth rate. The decline in the birth rate is relatively recent and this, coupled with the effects of high emigration for much of the period up to the 1990s, has resulted in Ireland having...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The 2003 EU survey of income and living conditions, EU-SILC, indicates that 3.5% of people at work fell into the consistent poverty category, compared to 9.4% of the population generally. The survey further shows that 9.2% of people in Ireland who were at work were at risk of poverty, compared to 22.7% of the population generally. It is clear from these figures that being at work...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Community employment is a part-time, publicly funded transitional programme designed to progress the long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged groups towards re-entering the labour market. CE participants receive payments which are in excess of their entitlements under the social welfare system and retain entitlement to secondary benefits, where applicable. Participants are free to...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (24 May 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 published last September in conjunction with the Disability Bill 2004. The Comhairle (Amendment) Bill 2004 is intended to confer additional and enhanced functions on the national information agency, Comhairle, which will enable that agency to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I am aware that the director of Crosscare referred to persons from the new member states seeking assistance at its food and night shelters when he spoke at a press conference to launch the Crosscare 2004 annual report. The director also stated that Crosscare would commission a study to establish how such people were faring when they came to this country. I understand this report should be...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: A person approaching pension age who is in receipt of a social welfare payment is advised to apply for the pension three months in advance of reaching pension age. The onus remains on the person to complete the application form and submit this to the Department. About 30% of all those who apply for an old age pension are notified under this process. Last year, to enhance early application for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department tries to assist and encourage 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. The back to work allowance scheme incentivises and encourages long-term unemployed people, lone parents and certain...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 71, 73, 87, 98 and 112 together. It is Government policy to encourage people to participate in occupational and private pension arrangements so that they can, when they retire, maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. To this end a range of measures have been introduced in recent years, including personal retirement savings accounts, PRSAs, mandatory...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (24 May 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 74 and 111 together. The Irish pensions system is unique, combining as it does a flat rate State payment and a voluntary supplementary pensions sector designed to provide the earnings related element of retirement income. The comparisons in the OECD survey are valid in so far as they focus on income from State cash payments. However, they do not provide a full...