Results 1,261-1,280 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I thank the Deputy for the question and her helpful suggestions, which I will consider. I would be happy to arrange for senior officials to meet the Deputy to take her through the details of the scheme if she wishes. As to her question, this is a new scheme. I expect 4,000 households will be facilitated under the rental accommodation scheme by the end of 2005. This year, I have transferred...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I will consider the Deputy's point.

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: A key objective of my Department is to ensure that the range and level of social security coverage is appropriate to the social and economic circumstances of different groups, including women, and that the services for which people are eligible are readily accessible and delivered in an efficient, effective and integrated way. There has been a significant increase in the level of social...

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In effect the Deputy has raised with me the agenda of the National Women's Council. Obviously he met its representatives, as I also did. If I were in Opposition I would also go through their shopping list. When I met them I gave them some answers. While I do not have at my fingertips the detailed data the Deputy seeks, I will get them for him. Deputy Stanton asked me how many women over 65...

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Some 83% of women receive social welfare support in some form. Some 19,000 are supported as qualified adults on the pension of their spouses or partners. Approximately 90% of those receiving support have a payment in their own right. Many of these women receive widow's payments. At the end of January 2004, 32% of those in receipt of either an old age contributory or retirement pension were...

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The process of increasing the qualified adult allowance commenced with the budget for 2000 and a number of special increases have been given to qualified adults since then. While I know the Deputy referred to the ratio, the rate of the qualified allowance on the contributory pension now stands at €138.50, which is 84% of the maximum rate of the non-contributory pension. In that case we have...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. Every effort is made to ensure that customers receive all their entitlements as soon as possible following application. Entitlement to disability allowance is contingent on the applicant satisfying both medical and means conditions. To satisfy the medical condition customers submit a medical certificate from their...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In the first six months of 2005, 10,500 applications were received. That compares with a total of 8,700 in the same period last year so that is quite an increase. Currently, there are 3,422 cases awaiting calculation of arrears and 2,800 of these are for people who have been awarded the allowance. A total of 572 cases are for persons who have been given revised rates of payment. Out of the...

Pension Provisions. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Question Nos. 6, 40, 70, 83, 85, 369 and 389 together. It is Government policy to encourage people to participate in occupational and private pension arrangements, so they can maintain their pre-retirement standard of living when they retire. To this end, a range of measures has been introduced in recent years including personal retirement savings accounts, or PRSAs,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In assessing means for social assistance purposes account is taken of any cash income the person may have, together with the value of capital and property, except the person's home. The source of any capital held by a pensioner can and does vary. It can include savings from income while formerly working, savings derived from the sale of property or other assets, savings from occupational or...

Written Answers — Tax and Social Welfare Codes: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Family income supplement is designed to provide cash support for employees on low earnings with families. This preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might otherwise only be marginally better off than if he or she were claiming other social welfare payments. Improvements to the family income supplement scheme, including the assessment of FIS on the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: It is a statutory condition of eligibility for one-parent family payment from my Department that applicants are required to make ongoing efforts to seek adequate maintenance from their former spouses or, in the case of unmarried applicants, the other parent of their child. Such maintenance is usually obtained by way of negotiation or by court order. In this regard, I am pleased to note that...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In its report Securing Retirement Income, published in May 1998, the Pensions Board recommended that the Government should, as part of the overall pensions strategy, run a pension awareness campaign. The campaign was initially launched in 2003 to coincide with the implementation of the Pensions (Amendment) Act 2002 which encompassed many of the recommendations of Securing Retirement Income,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 59, 60, 68, 71 and 72 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 meet their immediate accommodation needs through their...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The jobs facilitation programme was originally established with Government approval in July 1993. Currently, 46 facilitators are supported by ten regional co-ordinators and operate in 34 locations around the country. In April 2004, the jobs facilitation and family support programmes of my Department merged to form the social and family support services, SFSS. This was done to enable the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 37 together. The programme for Government contains a commitment to a scheme of all-Ireland free travel for pensioners resident in all parts of the island. The scheme would enable pensioners resident in Ireland to travel free of charge on all bus and rail services in Northern Ireland. Likewise, pensioners in Northern Ireland would travel free of charge...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department has not undertaken any specific research along the lines suggested by the Deputy regarding the information needs of older citizens. However, Comhairle, the national information agency which operates under the aegis of my Department, has recently funded the voluntary organisation, Age Action Ireland, to carry out a research project entitled "Uptake of Social Welfare Benefits by...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 15, 27, 50 and 63 together. The one-parent family payment is designed to provide income support to parents with insufficient means who have to parent alone. This can arise as a result of being widowed, or following separation or divorce, or being unmarried. The scheme in its present form largely reflects the reality that applied up to relatively recently,...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 25 and 41 together. The reduction and eventual elimination of child poverty are at the core of the strategies to combat poverty and social exclusion, a priority shared internationally. The OECD, in a report to Ministers for Social Affairs in April 2005, pointed out that "children who grow up in disadvantaged households are more likely to do poorly at...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: From 1 May 2004, the requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social assistance schemes and for child benefit. The basis for the restriction contained in the new rules is the applicant's habitual residence. The restriction is not based on citizenship, nationality, immigration status or any other factor. The effect of the restriction...