Results 1,221-1,240 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The Dublin-mid-Leinster area of the Health Service Executive has advised that it is reviewing the rent supplement entitlements of the person concerned. She has been requested recently to complete a form in order to update the executive regarding her circumstances. When the completed form is returned, the executive will determine the appropriate amount of rent supplement payable to her.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned has been awarded an electricity allowance with effect from 28 January 2005. She has been awarded a telephone allowance with effect from 25 February 2005, from the date her telephone was installed. A free lifetime television licence has also been awarded to her with effect from the expiry date of her current TV licence. The relevant service providers have been notified to...

Social Welfare (Consolidation) Bill 2005: First Stage. (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to consolidate the Social Welfare Acts. Certificate of the Attorney General In pursuance of Standing Order 137 of the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to public business, I, Rory Brady, Attorney General, hereby certify that the Social Welfare Consolidation Bill 2005 is a Bill to consolidate enactments relating to...

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

Séamus Brennan: I propose to takes Questions Nos. 431 and 435 together. Diet supplements are provided for under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The amount of supplement payable depends on which of two categories of diet has been prescribed by the applicant's medical adviser, low cost or high...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 432 and 433 together. The decentralisation implementation group, DIG, report to the Minister for Finance on 19 November 2004 recommended the locations and organisations to be included in the first phase of moves under the decentralisation programme and those to be regarded as potential early movers. Neither Carrickmacross nor Monaghan was included in the first...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department provides people receiving social welfare payments with a range of payment options, including electronic fund transfer, EFT. The majority of those who opt for this facility do so at the start of their claim and are paid on a regular weekly basis once their claim is put into payment. When EFT was introduced, payments were made four weeks in arrears. In 2000, the payment frequency...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department has not engaged the services of models for use in any promotional activities, policy launches or other events. Of the four agencies under the aegis of my Department, the Combat Poverty Agency, Comhairle and the Family Support Agency have never engaged the services of models for promotional activities or any other such events. The Pensions Board has used models in promotional...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (28 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. Rent supplements are subject to a means test. In addition to a minimum contribution of €13, which a recipient is required to pay from his or her own resources, each applicant is also required to contribute any...

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

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned was in receipt of unemployment assistance from September 1998. Following a review of her entitlement in January 2005, a deciding officer made a revised decision disallowing her claim from 25 February 2002 to 30 November 2004 on the grounds that her means, derived from her partner's income, were in excess of the statutory limit for payment of unemployment assistance...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare staff of the Health Service Executive, is one of a number of social assistance schemes which are subject to a statutory habitual residence condition with effect from 1 May 2004. Any person whose habitual residence or "centre of interest" is deemed to be other than in this State or the...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department engages external consultants from time to time to provide a range of specialist expertise. Broadly, expertise is sought under three main headings. Support with a number of strategic programmes aimed at enhancing the delivery of the Department's services, such as the service delivery modernisation programme, technical consultancies relating to the ongoing development of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The school meals programme operated by my Department gives funding towards provision of food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes. The first is the long-standing statutory urban school meals scheme, currently operated by 36 local authorities. The Department jointly funds the food costs with these local authorities, who also manage and fund the administration of the...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Pre-1953 contributions are very different to those made under the unified system of social insurance that applied from 1953 in that they do not contain any element towards the cost of contributory pensions. The special old age contributory pension based on pre-1953 insurance was introduced to enable such contributions to reckon for pension purposes subject to certain conditions in order to...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the homemaker's scheme. The scheme was introduced from 1994 and allows up to 20 years spent on caring duties to be disregarded when a person's insurance record is being averaged to assess entitlement for contributory pension purposes. However, the scheme will not of itself qualify...

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

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 444, 451 and 452 together. The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment that 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 widow's and widower's contributory pension is a social insurance payment and is not means-tested....

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In the programme for Government and in Sustaining Progress, the Government has committed itself to increasing the payment for qualified adults aged 66 or over to the same level as the personal rate of the old age non-contributory pension. The estimated cost of this commitment is €44 million. Considerable progress has already been made in this regard with the qualified adult allowance on the...

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

Séamus Brennan: The back to work allowance scheme is part of my Department's programme of initiatives designed to assist long-term unemployed people, lone parents and other social welfare recipients to return to the active labour force. There are two strands to the scheme, namely, the back to work enterprise allowance for self-employment and the back to work allowance for employees. The scheme was reviewed...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Given the wide range of charging regimes and cost levels that exist in respect of waste management throughout the State, the introduction of a measure such as an across the board increase in the old age non-contributory pension to address the issue would not be feasible. Any system put in place to assist people who rely on private domestic waste collection would have to be sensitive to the...

Written Answers — Legal Services: Legal Services (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Legal advice and related support services for my Department are supplied by the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor as appropriate. From 1998 until August 2003, my Department employed a legal adviser, the gross salary for this post for the years 1998 to 2003, inclusive, was: Financial Year Gross Salary (EUR) 1997-98 43,175.36 1998-99 45,314.22...

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

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned applied for one-parent family payment in December 2004. To date, the Department is not satisfied that the person has disclosed her means in full. In particular, she has failed to provide confirmation of how renovations to her house will be paid for and the position in respect of a site she owns with a value of €100,000. This information was most recently sought in a...