Results 14,261-14,280 of 15,117 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 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: Social Welfare Schemes (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of applications registered for the period 2020 - 2023 are set out in the table below. Figures in respect of 2024 are being compiled. Final figures for 2024 will be published in the 2024 Annual Statistics Report which is due to be published later this year. Scheme 2020 2021 2022 2023 State Pension (Non-Contributory) ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of claims awarded for schemes in 2020 - 2023 are set out in the table below. Figures in respect of 2024 are being compiled. Final figures for 2024 will be published in the 2024 Annual Statistics Report which is due to be published later this year. Scheme 2020 2021 2022 2023 State Pension (Non-Contributory) 7,084 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: he number of applications refused for each operational scheme in 2020 - 2023 are set out in the table below. Figures are in respect of 2024 are being compiled. Final figures for 2024 will be published in the 2024 Annual Statistics Report which is due to be published later this year. Scheme 2020 2021 2022 2023 State Pension ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1382 and 1383 together. 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. The Annual Report of the Chief Appeals Officer is published each year...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals service of the Department of Social Protection is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. The Annual Report of the Chief Appeals Officer is published each year and includes the total numbers of appeals registered across each scheme to a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals service of the Department of Social Protection is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. The Annual Report of the Chief Appeals Officer is published each year and includes the total numbers of appeals completed and a breakdown of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals service of the Department of Social Protection is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. In 2024, the average time taken to process an appeal was 23.5 weeks. The average processing time at the end of March 2025 is 20.9 weeks. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household resources. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements. Decisions on Additional Needs Payments are made at the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 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. A primary qualifying condition for CA is that the applicant provides full-time care and attention to a person in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. A specific standard was set for School Meals under the Nutritional Standards for School Meals and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Primary weekly social welfare payments are intended to enable recipients to meet their basic day-to-day income needs. In addition to these primary payments, my Department also provides a range of other payments on a weekly, monthly, or less frequent basis. These payments are considered secondary in nature and cannot be made available to those who are not in receipt of a primary payment. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Treatment Benefit is a PRSI-based scheme which provides free dental and optical services, and assistance towards the provision of audiological appliances and hair replacement products, to people who satisfy certain qualifying conditions, and to their dependent spouses/partners. Applications for Treatment Benefit are now routinely submitted on-line via the Department's Welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Customers can download one or more of the over 122 application forms available on the department’s ‘Request Postal Application Forms’ webpage on gov.ie. Additionally, customers can order application forms on the department’s ‘Request Postal Application Forms’ webpage on gov.ie. Requests through this service are processed quickly, with application...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a number of income supports for people with a disability. These include Disability Allowance, Blind Pension and Invalidity Pension. Both Disability Allowance and Blind Pension are means tested social assistance schemes, while Invalidity Pension is a social insurance based scheme. These are part of the suite of working age payments. In contrast, the State Pension,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face. We are fully committed to supporting carers in that role. There have been a number of significant improvements made to the income thresholds in the means test in recent years. From July this year, the weekly income disregard will increase from €450 to €625 for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (29 Apr 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. I confirm that the person concerned has been in receipt of CA since 11 September 2008. Once claims are in payment,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The estimated full-year cost of reducing the lower employer PRSI rate, currently at 8.9%, by 0.5 percentage points is approximately €50 million. This estimate does not take into account any possible changes in employer or employee behaviour, arising from changing the rate of the lower employer PRSI contribution. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: In general, women working on farms are liable to social insurance contributions in the same manner as their spouses or civil partners and, consequently, would be entitled to a range of social insurance benefits, including maternity and pension benefits. Since 2014, certain spouses and civil partners of self-employed sole traders, including farmers, can pay self-employment contributions...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (29 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached pension age on 20 January 2025. An application for state pension (contributory) was received on 24 October 2024. The person concerned was notified through their MyWelfare account on 9 April 2025 that they were awarded 89.49% of the maximum rate state pension (contributory). This rate is based on their contribution record of 744 paid contributions, 660...