Results 15,021-15,040 of 15,157 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department has no record of any retired official being re-engaged on a consultancy basis in the past four years and to date in 2025.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a service 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 Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Development Projects (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department's Community Services Programme (CSP) currently supports 428 community organisations through 448 services to provide employment opportunities and the delivery of local services, through a social enterprise model, with a budget of €55.4m for 2025. The CSP Programme, which is not aligned to the minimum wage, provides a funding contribution towards the cost of Full Time...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Data (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The information requested by the Deputy in respect of the agencies under the aegis of my Department is included in the table below. Circular 25/2016 sets out the Protocol for the Provision of Information to Members of the Oireachtas by State Bodies and requires the agencies to provide a dedicated email address for Oireachtas members. The main contact number for each of the agencies is also...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I can confirm that, for the years in question, neither my Department or any bodies under its aegis have had capital projects for IT services with contracts valued in excess of €1 million that failed to reach completion.

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I can confirm that the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht had no capital projects with contracts valued in excess of €5 million, which ran over cost in 2023. During the time period referenced by the Deputy there were four bodies under the aegis of my Department - the Charities Regulator, Western Development Commission, Water Safety Ireland, and Pobal....

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Development Projects (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Local Enhancement Programme (LEP) 2025 was launched last November with €7 million available to assist thousands of community groups across the country by providing capital and current supports. The LEP is targeted to the specific challenges facing local community groups and delivers immediate, tangible supports where they are needed most. The LEP is administered locally on...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Development Projects (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: On June 5th, I announced the latest round of funding of over €17 million for the delivery of 212 projects under the Community Recognition Fund covering all 31 local authority areas. That announcement brought the total number of projects that have been awarded funding under the fund to over 1,450 in just over two years. A significant number of projects approved under the Community...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: International Protection (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: To date, there have been two iterations of the Community Recognition Fund implemented by my Department with €50m being allocated to the Fund in each of 2023 and 2024. While there were some differences between the two iterations of the scheme, a key element of the process has been that all applications are made locally to the local authority who select projects for submission to...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Staff (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department has re-engaged one retired staff member on three separate occasions in the past four years. Details are set out below. I can confirm my Department requires consultants to declare any conflicts of interest in advance of utilising their services. This requirement is in line with the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour. Consultant Purpose ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: It is assumed that the Deputy's query in relation to “share buy back “ refers to share-based remuneration for employees. There is no employer PRSI liability on such remuneration, only employee PRSI liability. In 2024, the Department of Finance commissioned an independent review, carried out by Indecon Economic Consultants, of the taxation framework for share-based...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department of Social Protection has not recently been renamed or rebranded.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a service 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 Appeals (12 Jun 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. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 11 February 2025. It is a condition for receipt of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (12 Jun 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 can confirm that my Department received an application for CA from the person concerned on 20 March 2024. As a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Fuel Allowance is a means tested payment to help with the cost of heating a home during the winter months, payable to people who either live alone or only with certain other qualified people. To date, my Department has not received an application for Fuel Allowance from the person concerned. It is open to the person to apply for Fuel Allowance by completing a NFS1 application form. An...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Following a review, I can confirm that the person concerned has been awarded the 2025 Carer's Support Grant in respect of their father. The payment of €2,000 will issue to the person's nominated bank account shortly. Notification of this decision issued to the person concerned on 9 June 2025. I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides State Pension payments through the State Pension (Contributory)(SPC), which is a contributory based payment based on a person's social insurance record and the State Pension (Non-Contributory)(SPNC) which is means-tested social assistance payment. To receive either a contributory or social assistance payment a person must qualify for that payment in their own right. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Contracts (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Amount expended by the Department on external training, simulations and advice in advance relating to appearances as witnesses at Oireachtas committees, from 2021 to date in 2025 provided through One Learning, the Civil Service Shared Services Learning and Development function: YEAR COURSE TYPE COURSE NAME No. OF ATTENDEES @ €110 pp TOTAL COST...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Expenditure (12 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Across Government, Departments of State are being restructured to better align with the priorities of the new Government and to fulfil the commitments set out in the Programme for Government. For my Department, this has involved the transfer of the Gaeltacht function, with effect from June 1st, and the renaming of the Department to the Department of Rural and Community Development and the...