Results 1,241-1,260 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Ministerial Staff: Ministerial Staff (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Since I took up office, I have appointed on a contract basis for my term of office a special adviser, Mr. Frank Lahiffe, a press adviser, Mr. Tom Rowley, a personal secretary, Ms Mary Browne, and a personal assistant, Mr. Bobby Holland. The above named staff were appointed on 30 September 2004. The salaries for these staff are as follows. Special adviser €87,247, which is the principal...

Written Answers — Departmental Revenue: Departmental Revenue (28 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The value of increases-decreases in the amounts of appropriations-in-aid receipts for my Department in respect of the financial years ended 31 December, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, are set out below. There were no charges levied by my Department.

Written Answers — Health Service Allowances: Health Service Allowances (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 265 and 266 together. Details of recipients of rent supplement and expenditure on rent supplements in each of the past five years by health board area are set out in the following tables. Table 1: Expenditure on rent supplement by health board area from 2000 to 2004. 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 â'¬m â'¬m â'¬m â'¬m â'¬m ERHA 78.3 87.9...

Written Answers — EU Regulations: EU Regulations (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993 sets out the circumstances in which an offence has been committed under the social welfare code, along with the associated penalties. In the main, these provisions are detailed in Chapter 4 of Part VI of that Act. The Minister does not have the power, under the provisions of the Act, to create an indictable offence by way of regulations.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: There are currently three different weekly rates of child dependant allowances payable to social welfare recipients, namely, €16.80, €19.30 and €21.60. To standardise the three main rates of allowances at the highest rate of €21.60 would mean that approximately 243,000 full-rate payments and 93,000 half-rate payments would be increased at a cost of approximately of €59 million...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The household benefits package, which comprises the electricity-gas allowance, telephone allowance and television licence schemes, is generally available to people living permanently in the State aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare-type payment or who satisfy a means test. The package is also available to carers and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: At my request, the Pensions Board is at present conducting a review of our overall pensions strategy. The review encompasses an examination of the main strategic recommendations contained in the national pensions policy initiative including those relating to the adequacy of income in retirement, coverage targets, levels of social welfare pensions, sustainability of State pensions, including...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The current rate of old age contributory pension, €179.30 per week, represents just under 32% of gross average industrial earnings based on average earnings in 2004. At the end of March 2005, there were about 393,000 older persons in receipt of a social welfare pension. This represents 21% of those at work. Figures on the numbers in receipt of State pensions in other EU countries are not...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The most recent figures released by the Central Statistics Office on occupational and private pensions coverage relate to the first quarter of 2004. These show that 52.4% of the workforce had a private or occupational pension, including 6.3% with just a private pension. Coverage for the key target group for the national pensions policy initiative, those who are 30 years of age and over,...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 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 on invalidity pension 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. EFT payments for invalidity pensioners are currently made one week in...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (29 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The information required by the Deputy is contained in the following tabular statement. Amounts received in PRSI from 1997 to date. Employer Employee Self-Employed â'¬000 â'¬000 â'¬000 1997 1,739,552 571,844 156,671 1998 2,007,125 542,385 165,770 1999 2,328,712 620,919 205,456 2000 2,763,419 745,569 190,051 2001 3,251,639...

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The most recent statistics on poverty levels in Ireland are derived from the new 2003 EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions, EU-SILC, and were released earlier this year by the Central Statistics Office. This survey replaces the Living in Ireland Survey, which was conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute until 2001 and which provided data on consistent and relative poverty...

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The relative income poverty measure here is 22.7%. At the risk attracting unwanted headlines, I do not believe 22.7% of the people of Ireland live in poverty. That is the relative income measure and the word "relative" is important. We are all poor relative to someone else. I have been critical of the measurements before. I rely on the figures from the ESRI, NESC, CSO and EU but I also point...

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I will keep it in perspective. The 22.7% figure is interesting but the figure for consistent poverty is 5.2%.

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The EU-SILC survey for 2003 reported that 10.2% of households — an increase from 5.2%, I apologise — are in consistent poverty.

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Consistent poverty is regarded as those deprived of basic goods and services with incomes below the 60% threshold. I will focus on consistent poverty and child poverty. The figures I have for child poverty range from 66,000 to 120,000.

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I am continuing to increase child benefit and welfare payments, which have already increased dramatically. I am finalising work on the possibility of a second tier of child benefit which would be focused exclusively on children in low income households. We have had a number of meetings about that and we are making progress. It will be a major instrument in tackling child poverty.

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I am conscious of the need to facilitate persons in receipt of social welfare payments to take up employment opportunities and to ensure the social welfare supports are structured to support this objective. I am aware of the specific issue raised by the Deputy, which was also raised in the recent discussions at the committee on social affairs that he chairs. Several measures have been...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Limits are adjusted from time to time, often in the budget. I will keep these income limits under review. However, it is a battle of choices where sometimes we need to increase rates rather than move limits. It is often a trade-off. I have given the Deputy the overall increase in welfare expenditure. This year we have tried to target it at increasing the rates rather than moving the limit. I...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The purpose of the supplementary welfare allowance rent supplement scheme, administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, is to ensure that private sector tenants who are not in full-time employment or full-time education have a guaranteed minimum amount of income with which to meet their basic day to day needs after paying rent. It is a...