Results 13,581-13,600 of 15,083 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and the habitual residency conditions. I can confirm that the Department received an application for DA from the person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The nature of the arrangement for consultancy in my Department is by way of contractual agreements and not by secondment. My Department does not have any secondments from consultancy firms.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: My department provides the Domiciliary Care Allowance which is a monthly non-means tested payment to a parent or guardian for a child aged up to 16 who has a severe disability and requires care and attention substantially over and above that required by other children their age. From January 2025, the rate of Domiciliary Care Allowance increased from €340 to €360 per month....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Contracts (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: I can confirm that neither my Department, or any agency under my Department’s remit, have, since 1 November 2024, entered any contract in respect of the named hotel or have had any discussions, or received any offers, in respect of using this premises for any reason. I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a range of financial supports to communities across a broad suite of programmes, and indeed many of these programmes have provided important supports to sports clubs across the country in recent years. However, my Department does not implement a funding stream that would focus on funding for a community sports team to travel abroad for training camps. The Deputy may...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Information and Communications Technology (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: I can confirm that there are no ISDN, PTSN or copper-based leased lines in use by my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Staff (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: In line with the Civil Service Secondment Policy, all secondment opportunities within my Department are advertised by the Public Appointments Service and circulated to all Civil Service organisations and bodies under their aegis. Secondments are not advertised to consulting firms or other external bodies. I can therefore confirm that the Department of Rural and Community Development has not...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Pobal works on behalf of Government, and in conjunction with communities and local agencies, to support social inclusion and local and community development. Pobal provide administrative support to my Department for a wide array of programmes and schemes, including the LEADER programme, the Social Inclusion & Community Activation Programme (SICAP), the Scheme to Support National...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Contracts (20 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department has not entered any contracts with the hotel referenced and has not had any discussions, or received any offers, in respect of using this premises for any reason, since 1 November 2024. In respect of the agencies under the aegis of my Department, information relating to any contracts entered with the hotel referenced are a matter for the bodies...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS), administered by my Department through the Community Welfare Service (CWS), was activated on 23 January 2025 to assist householders across the country affected by Storm Éowyn. The purpose of the HAS is to prevent hardship by providing financial support to people in the aftermath of severe weather or other exceptional events and who are not able...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that, as a result, they require that level of care. It is a condition for receipt of CA that the person being cared for must have such disability that they require...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Legislative Reviews (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Industrial Relations (Provisions in Respect of Pension Entitlements of Retired Workers) Bill 2021 was a Private Members’ Bill which has lapsed by reason of the dissolution of the 33rd Dáil. The Bill was primarily focused on amending industrial relations-related legislation. As such, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which has overall policy responsibility...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Surveys (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: It is not considered feasible to conduct the research sampling exercise suggested by the Deputy. Even just to examine the number of DCA appeal decisions in one month, my officials would need to review over one hundred individual cases to get a representative sample with a 5% margin of error. However, my Department’s Statistics Unit is working with the Social Welfare Appeals Office...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that, as a result, they require that level of care. Means are any income belonging to the carer and their spouse/civil partner/cohabitant including property (except their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Legislative Programme (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the law as currently enacted, entitlement to a Widows, Widowers or Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory pension is only available to a surviving partner who was party to a marriage or civil partnership. As the Deputy is aware, on 22nd January 2024, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the entitlement of an unmarried cohabitant to a Widower's Contributory Pension....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached pension age on 24 July 2022. An application for State pension (contributory) was received on 17 October 2024. Long-Term Carers Contributions (LTCCs) are available to those who have provided full time care to incapacitated dependents for 20 years or more (1040 weeks). The person concerned was awarded 1216 LTCCs which were included in the pension calculation. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Rules around the recoupment of overpayments is decided centrally by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. In relation to the details supplied, officials from my Department will contact the person directly to clarify the situation.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reviews (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reviews (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned made an application for Illness Benefit on 3 December 2024 and included the following bank details in the application: AIB account ending in #####1088. Payments issued to this bank account for the period 16 November 2024 to 18 January 2025. I have confirmed with the accounts Department that the payments have not been returned and the AIB account ending in IBAN #####1088...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (4 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides two main payment method options for its customers: cash collection at a post office (Electronic Information Transfer EIT) or the transfer of funds directly into a customer’s account in a financial institution (Electronic Fund Transfer EFT). The total value of payments in 2024, broken down by payment method and Social Welfare scheme, are set out in the table...