Results 1,341-1,360 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

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

Séamus Brennan: My Department provides people receiving social welfare payments with a choice of payment options. People who choose payment of pensions by electronic fund transfer — EFT — to personal bank accounts do so on a voluntary basis. The majority of those who opt for the EFT facility do so at the start of their claim and are paid on a regular weekly basis once their claim is put into payment. At...

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

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The main objective of the scheme is to make up the difference between a person's means and their needs. Where a person has access to resources, through the social welfare system or otherwise, the relevant legislation requires that this be taken into...

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

Séamus Brennan: The homemaker's scheme was introduced in 1994 to protect the pension entitlements of those who take time out of the paid workforce for caring duties. The scheme allows up to 20 years to be disregarded when a person's insurance record is being averaged to assess entitlement for contributory pension purposes. The scheme will not of itself qualify a person for a pension as the standard...

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The five statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, Comhairle, the Family Support Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition, the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of my Department. There are currently no vacancies on the Pensions Board. There are currently no vacancies on the board of the Combat Poverty...

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The five statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, Comhairle, the Family Support Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition, the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of my Department. The Pensions Board was established in December 1990 under the Pensions Act 1990. The role of the board is to monitor and...

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

Séamus Brennan: The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance scheme, BSCFA, is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department has any function in decisions on individual claims. The executive has advised that an application by the person concerned for BSCFA had been rejected on means grounds, taking account of household income...

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

Séamus Brennan: Under standard supplementary welfare allowance assessment rules, rent supplements are calculated to ensure that an eligible person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to his or her family circumstances, less a minimum contribution of €13 which each recipient is required to pay from his or her own resources. Family income...

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

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 713 and 733 together. 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...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (28 Sep 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department assists and encourages long-term unemployed and other long-term welfare recipients to return to work, training or further education through measures administered by the Department's employment support service. Facilitators, based in social welfare local offices, can provide additional support to the more marginalised groups in the community, through the special projects fund....

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

Séamus Brennan: The back to school clothing and footwear, BSCF, allowance scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Entitlement is subject to a means test. The weekly income limit appropriate to a couple with four children is €426.00. The south eastern area of the executive has advised that it disallowed an application by the person...

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

Séamus Brennan: Recipients of social welfare or health board payments who have been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition, and whose means are insufficient to meet their needs, may qualify for a diet supplement under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. This scheme and related supplements are administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health...

Written Answers — Departmental Contracts: Departmental Contracts (28 Sep 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The following companies secured contracts over €100,000 in value during the last five years. In 2000 — Eur-Ace Security; Emerald Facilities Services; Dell Computers Ireland; Gartner Group (Irl) Ltd; Andersen Consulting; CMG Admiral; D C Kavanagh; Group 4; Brandal Nth. West; Noonan Services; Red Dog Graphics; Electricty Supply Board. In 2001 — Bearingpoint Ire; D C Kavanagh; CAPITA...

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

Séamus Brennan: The back to education allowance is a second chance education opportunities programme designed to encourage and facilitate people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active workforce. The conditions for entitlement to the third level option of the back to education allowance scheme were revised with...

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

Séamus Brennan: My Department administers a number of income support measures, including family income supplement which was introduced in 1984 to provide income support for employees with families on low earnings and thereby preserve the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where they might be only marginally better off than if they were fully reliant on social welfare payments. It is not...

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

Séamus Brennan: There are 35,499 recipients of rent supplement whose marital status is recorded as single, equivalent to 61% of the total of 58,549 people receiving rent supplement at present.

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

Séamus Brennan: From January this year, the old age contributory and non-contributory pensions increased by €10 to €179.30 per week and €166.00 per week respectively. With regard to carer's allowance, the maximum rate of carer's allowance for a carer under 66 years increased from €139.60 to €153.60 per week from January while the maximum rate for a carer over age 66 years increased from €157.80...

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

Séamus Brennan: My Department has overall responsibility for the money advice and budgeting service, MABS, which provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need intensive help and advice in coping with their debt problems. There are 53 independent companies nationwide operating the service. The service places an emphasis on practical budget based measures that help people to move permanently...

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

Séamus Brennan: There are various schemes within the social welfare system to assist families in dealing with death and funeral expenses. These include the payment of six weeks social welfare following the death of certain social welfare recipients or their spouse, the payment of a bereavement grant to insured people and their families and the payment of the widowed parent's grant. The scheme of six weeks...

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

Séamus Brennan: The one-parent family payment, OFP, is paid to men and women who, for one reason or another, are bringing up children without the support of a partner. In assessing entitlement to OFP, the following items are assessable as means: income from employment or self employment; maintenance payments, including maintenance paid to or for a dependent child; the value of any property one has other than...

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

Séamus Brennan: The back to school clothing and footwear, BSCF, allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. A person may qualify for payment of a back to school clothing and footwear allowance if he or she is in receipt of a social welfare or HSE payment, is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education...