Results 13,161-13,180 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: We all know that the sector has had a really difficult time as it has been shut down since March 2020. What we have done is tried to support the people involved in every way we can. When I engaged with them, they were very pleased that they can earn up to €960 and still keep the pandemic unemployment payment. That meant they could do the occasional gig and it did not affect their...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: All my Department is doing is making people on the PUP aware of the various supports that are available. There are a lot of supports and there is no point in the Government putting them in place if we do not tell people about them. It is all voluntary. If a person is confident that his or her job is coming back, that is fine, but if someone needs help, we are here to help. That is the one...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Proposed Legislation (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I share the concern that employees should be correctly classified for social insurance, taxation and employment rights purposes and that they should be entitled to protection against victimisation if they challenge how an employer classifies them. While this latter question is primarily one for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Proposed Legislation (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. I intend to publish a code of practice on employment status. The purpose of the code of practice on determining employment status is to explain, in as clear and as user-friendly a way as possible, what the courts have decided constitutes an employment relationship. It is an explanatory guide and it sets out and explains the legal obligations that already exist. Workers...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Proposed Legislation (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. False self-employment is a problem that the Department of Social Protection takes very seriously. We want to make sure that employees receive their proper PRSI contributions so they get their entitlements, and that is our focused role. Revenue looks at it from a tax perspective and the Workplace Relations Commission looks at it in terms of workers’ rights. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The current rates of welfare payments for young people were constructed to incentivise young jobseekers aged 18 to 24 years to access further education and training, with the aim of improving employment outcomes. A young person who takes up a place on a training, education or employment programme qualifies for the full adult rate of payment. In...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: It would be fair to say that my Department has had a fairly busy year. I know the Deputy appreciates that. Some 24 million individual payments have been issued to almost 900,000 people. Our priority has been to get these payments to people. If we had not done that, we would rightly be criticised here. I assure the Deputy that I will consider the poverty impact assessment and publish it...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I will launch the Pathways to Work scheme on 12 July. The best way that we can help young people is by helping them to get back into employment so that has to be the priority. I will outline the different schemes at that stage. There will be intensive work to assist people to get back into employment because it has been a difficult time. I was keen to support young people during the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for raising this matter. It is wrong to look at the tender published on 26 May as profit-focused. It is absolutely client-focused with a strong focus on local services, community linkages and client service levels and outcomes. It is expanding service provision into seven counties that currently do not have a local employment service. About 90% of the fees to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: They will not need reserves because they will get the payment upfront whenever a client is referred to the local employment service. I reiterate we are expanding these services under the first phrase of the request for tender. We are putting it into areas that do not currently have this employment service. When a customer or client is referred to the local employment services from the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I reassure Deputies that the request for tender will take account of local knowledge and community engagement. There is a strong emphasis on that in the request for tender. I have spoken to a number of the providers. I understand the Deputies' concerns, but we have taken them on board. There has been significant engagement with the particular group for whom we are expanding the service....

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Projects (30 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy may be aware, LEADER is a multi-annual programme for rural development co-funded by the EU through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The programme is based on a community-led approach to rural development and plays an important role in supporting communities and enterprises in progressing job creation, social inclusion and environmental projects at local level. Preparations...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Island Communities (30 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: In July 2019 the Government noted the intention of the then Minister of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to establish an Interdepartmental Committee for Island Development which would develop a Cross-Government Islands Policy. The first meeting of this committee was held in September 2019 where an overall approach was agreed to develop the national policy for the islands which would be...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (30 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Walks Scheme, which is funded by my Department, contracts landholders to undertake maintenance work on National Waymarked Ways and other priority trails that traverse their lands. The landholders receive modest payments for maintenance work undertaken in line with agreed work plans. The Programme for Government and Our Rural Futureinclude a commitment to double the number of walks...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (30 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Walks Scheme, which is funded by my Department, contracts landholders to undertake maintenance work on National Waymarked Ways and other priority trails that traverse their lands. The landholders receive modest payments for maintenance work undertaken in line with agreed work plans. The Walks Scheme is currently operating on 45 trails supported by approximately 2,040 landowners and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment, or PUP, was introduced as an emergency measure to support people who lost their employment due to Government mandatedpublic health restrictions. To date expenditure on the scheme is over €8 billion and just under 900,000 people have benefitted from the scheme. This demonstrates the Government's absolute commitment to support workers and businesses...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment is a statutory scheme for employees and the self-employed who were in employment on or after13th March 2020 and who lost employment as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Entitlement to the scheme was based on the loss of an actual employment rather than potential or prospective but unrealised employment. It would be impossible in practical terms to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Bord na Móna (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment or PUP is a statutory support which is available to people who have lost their employment as a result of Government mandatedrestrictions arising from Covid-19. It is not intended as a permanent or standing scheme to respond to the normal operation of the labour market. While every loss of employment hits the workers affected very hard and we would...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Offices (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Welfare Service in my department delivers the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is the safety net within the overall social welfare system. This scheme provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. While seeking to comply with public health restrictions, Intreo offices...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment or PUP has been an important support for hundreds of thousands of workers and their families through COVID19. To date expenditure on the scheme is over €8 billion with payments made to just under 900,000 people. UP was introduced as an exceptional measure in response to the global pandemic. As thousands of jobs are resuming each week with the...