Results 1,161-1,180 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Child dependant allowance, CDA, is an additional weekly payment made to male and female social welfare recipients in respect of each qualified child dependant. A full CDA rate of €16.80 for each child dependant is payable to recipients of disability benefit together with a qualified adult allowance where the spouse's gross weekly earnings do not exceed €220 gross per week. Where earnings...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 427 and 431 together. The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment which provides income support for 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 income support and, as a general rule,...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I have no plans to change the payment methods currently available for old-age, widows and other pension customers. Current payment options for these customers 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...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The operation of the habitual residence condition has been kept under review by officials of my Department since its introduction. The purpose of the review is to assess the impact of the condition on different categories of claimants, the organisational arrangements and the level of service provided for customers, to identify opportunities for improvements in the administration of the scheme...

Written Answers — Ministerial Travel: Ministerial Travel (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I travelled to Estonia to represent the Government at various ceremonies which celebrated St. Patrick's Day. I also had bilateral meetings with the Estonian Social Affairs Minister and the Vice-Chairman of the Estonian Parliament Social Affairs Committee and gave a number of press interviews. My official party travelled by Government jet to Tallinn on Wednesday night, 16 March, and returned...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: With effect from 1 June 2005 a new disability allowance personal expenses payment of €35 per week has been introduced for people in residential settings. These people did not previously qualify for a disability allowance. The allowance replaces the former pocket money allowances administered by the health boards. Social welfare legislation provides that payment may be made to a person other...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Disability allowance is a personal allowance normally paid directly to the recipient. Generally, no arrangements are made to split payments except in very exceptional or limited circumstances, for example, when a separate payment is issued directly to a qualified adult dependant. There are many different residential settings or services which recipients of disability allowance may attend,...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 434 and 435 together. Under the Government decentralisation programme announced as part of budget 2004, the Department is to relocate 230 posts to Donegal and 120 posts to Buncrana. According to figures received by the Department from the central applications facility, CAF, the number of applicants for Donegal and Buncrana is 104 and 35, respectively. The...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Half of any maintenance a lone parent receives can be disregarded as means for the purposes of assessing his or her entitlement to one-parent family payment. The means test for this and certain other social assistance schemes also provides for a disregard of up to €95.23 per week of maintenance payments in instances where applicants have rent or mortgage interest obligations on their family...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 437 and 438 together. Disablement benefit is payable under the occupational injuries scheme to an insured person who suffers a loss of physical or mental faculty as a result of an occupational accident or a prescribed disease. The person must have been in insurable, occupational injuries, employment at the time the accident happened or the disease was...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned applied for a bereavement grant on 20 May 2005 in respect of her late son who had been in receipt of disability allowance. While a six-weeks-after-death payment has been made to the person concerned, bereavement grant is not payable in this case as the PRSI contribution conditions are not satisfied. She was informed of this decision on 31 May 2005. In instances where...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned was awarded the electricity allowance from 1 January 1997 and a free television licence from his next renewal licence after that date. He was also awarded a telephone allowance from 10 September 1997. According to An Post's records, the person concerned was issued with a free lifetime television licence in December 2004 when his current licence expired.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned has been awarded the household benefits package with effect from 28 May 2005. This entitles him to electricity and telephone allowances from that date. He is also entitled to a free lifetime television licence from his next licence renewal date. The ESB and Eircom will be notified shortly to apply the allowances to his accounts.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The means test for supplementary welfare allowance, through which rent supplements are provided, requires that all types of household income, including maintenance payments for a lone parent and his or her children, must be taken into account in determining a person's entitlements under the scheme. Up to €95.23 per week of maintenance payments can be disregarded in the means test for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 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. Payment of rent supplement is subject to a means test. The Dublin and mid-Leinster area of the executive has advised that during a recent routine review of this case, it came to light that in addition to her...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: An increase in the workforce participation of older people is one of the more important measures identified at EU level as a means of ensuring the sustainability of pensions systems in the future. One of the main factors contributing to the projected problems for the pay as you go pensions system is a reduction in the available workforce in the years ahead. Accordingly, it is important to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: One of the conditions for receipt of the various allowances available under my Department's household benefits package is that a customer must be permanently residing in the State. In September 2003, entitlement of the person concerned to an old age non-contributory pension ceased as he was no longer resident in the State. As a consequence, his entitlement to the household benefits package...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: There is an obligation on a person who applies for old age non-contributory pension to fully declare his or her means. Once a pension is in payment, the pensioner is, by law, obliged to notify the Department of any change in the means. If the means are not fully disclosed, an overpayment of pension may arise. If, subsequent to the death of such a recipient, it comes to light that not all of...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 447 and 452 to 463, inclusive, together. Since the introduction of the scheme, entitlement to old age non-contributory pension has been determined by reference to an applicant's means, along with the other relevant eligibility requirements. In assessing means, account is taken of any cash income the person may have, together with the value of capital and...

Written Answers — Departmental Funding: Departmental Funding (14 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The Northside Community Law Centre is one of a number of organisations which are funded by 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. My Department took over direct funding of the...