Results 14,701-14,720 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Seanad: Health Services (8 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I thank Senator Buttimer for raising this issue and I am replying to it on behalf my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. Asthma is a respiratory disease that affects the airways and which can develop over a period of time into a chronic respiratory condition in some individuals. Respiratory disease is a significant cause of morbidity in both the childhood and...
- Seanad: School Staffing (8 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I thank each of the Senators their personal good wishes and I answer this question on behalf of the new Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. Primary and secondary schools are funded through capitation grants and likewise secretarial and caretaker services are funded by grants that are related to the number of pupils in the school. There are a small number of primary and...
- Seanad: School Staffing (8 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Department of Education and Science has no plans to employ directly caretakers and secretaries. The scheme that has existed since 1978 is being phased out. The money given to each school is provided on a discretionary basis, so the school decides whether to employ people for three or five hours, for example. The money provided would allow primary schools to employ a secretary for four...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Schemes: Social Welfare Schemes (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: My Department provides a wide range of second chance education opportunities to facilitate people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active work force. The back to education allowance (BTEA) is one of these second chance education opportunities schemes. It is paid at a standard weekly rate...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over. All carers in receipt of carer's allowance and carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relative's allowance, regardless of their age, receive a free travel pass. It is also available to people under age 66 who are in receipt of certain disability type welfare payments, such as...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Health Service Executive has advised that there is no record of an application for rent supplement from the person concerned. If she wishes to make an application for rent supplement she should contact the local community welfare officer so that her entitlement can be examined.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The person concerned was paid jobseeker's allowance for the maximum two-week holiday period while he was in the United Kingdom. However, he remained outside the state for a further period and sustained a loss of 8 days jobseeker's allowance from 22 April to 30 April 2008 inclusive. He contacted his local Social Welfare office on 1 May 2008 and is in receipt of the allowance from that date.
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: It is a fundamental principle of the social insurance system that those qualifying for benefits must satisfy a range of contribution and other conditions. In the case of contributory pensions, this involves commencing payment of contributions 10 years before pension age, payment of a minimum number of contributions at an appropriate rate and reaching a minimum average annual contribution...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: My Department currently operates the occupational injuries scheme which provides entitlement to benefit for persons suffering from certain prescribed diseases which are listed in the legislation and where that person has contracted that disease in the course of their employment. Where a person has contracted one of the diseases listed in the legislation, benefits are payable if they were...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that, in accordance with the statutory requirements, the relevant Departmental papers and comments of my Department have been sought in this case. On receipt of this response the case will be referred to an Appeals Officer for early consideration. The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an office of my Department that is independently...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: A Deciding Officer disallowed the jobseeker's benefit claim of the person concerned from 25 January 2008, on the grounds that she was not available for, or genuinely seeking work. She appealed this decision. However, the Appeals Officer was not satisfied that she was available for full-time work and genuinely seeking work on a sustained and consistent basis and accordingly upheld the...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE), provides for the payment of a rent supplement to assist eligible people who are unable to provide for their immediate accommodation needs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The main conditions for receipt of Respite Care Grant are that the person or persons in respect of whom the application is made must require full-time care and attention and that the applicant must be providing that care. The legislation provides that a person is regarded as requiring full-time care and attention where they require continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Schemes: Social Welfare Schemes (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: My Department provides a number of employment and training incentives to encourage and facilitate people, including people with a disability, to take up available work or training options. These include the back to work and back to education allowances. The back to work allowance provides a monetary incentive for people who are long term dependant on social welfare payments, including illness...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Child benefit (CB) is the principal means of providing support to families with children. It is neutral vis-Ã-vis the employment status of the child's parents and maximizes choice for parents. Child benefit is paid monthly in advance to 582,600 families is respect of over 1,118,000 children. At present there are no plans to move child benefit to a twice monthly payment. It should be noted...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: There are two main commitments in the Agreed Programme for Government, which relate to pensioner qualified adults. These are as follows: i. Complete the scheme introduced in Budget 2007 to provide a personal pension payment for pensioner spouses in receipt of the Qualified Adult Allowance. The payment will be set at the level of a full rate Non-Contributory State Pension and the income limits...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 324 and 337 together. The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the Homemaker's scheme which was introduced in and took effect from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 325 and 327 together. It important that those who wish to continue in employment after normal retirement age should, as far as is possible, be facilitated and supported. Longer working can play an important role in ensuring that our pensions system is sustainable in the future and can be beneficial to the individual. The Green Paper on pensions includes an...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: An earnings disregard of â¬100 per week was introduced in September 2006 where the non-contributory pensioner and/or spouse or partner is in employment. The disregard was intended as an incentive to facilitate non-contributory pensioners who wish to continue working, or to re-enter the workforce. In line with the commitment in the Programme for Government the disregard was increased to...
- Written Answers — National Carers Strategy: National Carers Strategy (13 May 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The development of a National Carers' Strategy is a key Government commitment in both the national partnership agreement "Towards 2016" and the Programme for Government. A working group, chaired by the Department of An Taoiseach, has begun work on developing the strategy. My Department provides the secretariat to the working group which also includes representatives of the Departments of...