Results 11,841-11,860 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Chairman and Deputy Donnelly. First, I reiterate, and I did not make this up, the legal advice is that the requirement is that we must go out to tender and it must be a competitive procurement process. What I am doing initially is expanding the service. These regions that do not currently have a service will get one. We want to expand the service there and we have engaged with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Go raibh maith agat Senator Garvey. I must say she looked exceedingly well on television last night when she discussed railways with former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in Clare. The remote working hub in Ennistymon is a great example. We highlight it as one of the real success projects in Clare. We held it up as an example so other communities and towns could see that what is being done there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I take the Senator's point on water and wastewater provision in towns. I have met Irish Water and highlighted to it that there are towns and villages which cannot develop. They are full up and they need to expand. It is something we have also raised with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I have met Irish Water officials on this matter because it has been brought to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Senator. We are working on the portal for the one-stop-shop and we are going to work harder on it because we must get it up and running. It is an important and good resource for people when they want to know where to go. There are so many different sources of funding that people will want to see clearly how it is possible to maximise the benefits of the supports available. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Senator is correct. Rural businesses need to do that, especially now with their doors closed. To apply, they need to go to their local enterprise office, LEO, where they can get a trading online voucher. Around this time last year, when I was the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, my then Department strongly promoted that scheme. People from many businesses have told me...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Rural Development Strategy: Engagement with Minister for Rural and Community Development (20 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Senator for his kind words. He is right about community development associations. They need a few bob to keep going. They have no way of getting money at present. We have helped them through the Covid fund. These are only small amounts, and it makes a big difference. We will work on that because the Senator is correct. It is not a great deal in the larger scale of things,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, the experience of past recessions indicates that youth employment tends to be significantly impacted by any labour market shock. This is because many employers operate a "last in-first out" protocol when reducing their labour force. Moreover, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on our youth is driven by the tendency for many younger people to work in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1099, 1123, 1139 and 1165 together. The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is established as a statutory scheme since 5th August 2020 and is available to support employees and self-employed who have lost their employment as a direct consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the statutory conditions of the scheme, recipients must either be an employed...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1100 and 1131 together. The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €28.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €784 each year) from October to April, to over 372,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,557 schools and organisations benefitting 227,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Since 1998, when legislative provision was first made for the PSC, it was always intended that it would be used widely across the public service to assist people in their dealings with public sector bodies. The list of public bodies that are authorised to use the PSC is set out in Schedule 5 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended). That Act also provides that is an offence...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: A total of 870 people in Kerry were in receipt of Rent Supplement at end of March , of whom 302 were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment as of April 18th 2021. The PUP rate breakdown is included in the attached tabular statement. Rent Supplement Recipients in Kerry also in receipt of PUP 302 of whom, received a €350 PUP 204 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: On Monday 28th December 2020 new referrals to all contracted employment service providers including JobPath were suspended. As on previous occasions all contracted employment service providers continued to engage with their existing caseloads during these periods of suspensions of new referrals. . Mindful of the need to support the unemployed and given the labour market impacts arising from...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reports (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1106 and 1136 together. Last year my Department received the report on the Public Employment Service from the Institute for Employment Studies. The report, is a contribution to the ongoing process of procuring new models of contracted Public Employment Services. I referred the report to the Labour Market Advisory Council for their views and my Department has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I recently signed Regulations which introduced a new disregard which will apply to Disability Allowance recipients who have been granted bursaries, stipends or scholarships towards completing a PhD. It is subject to an annual limit of €20,000 per annum (i.e. if a recipient gets more than one bursary, the combination cannot exceed €20,000) and is available for a maximum of four...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Local Employment Service (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1110 and 1119 together. Similar correspondence was forwarded to my Department and I can confirm that a response has issued directly to the person concerned. As part of the July stimulus, the Government committed to increase resources dedicated to the delivery of employment services both within the Department’s own Intreo service, and, in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Every year, my Department staggers payments over both the Easter and Christmas holiday periods to cater for post offices and banks being closed. This Easter, payments which fell due for payment on Easter Monday and Good Friday were brought forward for payment to Thursday, 1st April. Payments which were due for payment on Thursday, 1st April were brought forward to Wednesday, 31st March and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1112, 1113, 1130, 1137, 1154, 1155, 1170, 1179 and 1190 together. As part of the July stimulus, the Government committed to increase resources dedicated to the delivery of employment services within the Department’s own Intreo service, and, in addition, to expand the coverage of the Local Employment Services to areas not currently covered by existing...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I recently signed Regulations which introduced a new disregard which will apply to Disability Allowance recipients who have been granted bursaries, stipends or scholarships towards completing a PhD. It is subject to an annual limit of €20,000 per annum (i.e. if a recipient gets more than one bursary, the combination cannot exceed €20,000) and is available for a maximum of four...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (21 Apr 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,557 schools and organisations benefitting 227,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to...