Results 15,121-15,140 of 15,157 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's benefit is, as the Deputy knows, a payment available to insured people who may need to leave work or reduce their hours to care for a person or people in need of full-time care and attention. It is financed from the Social Insurance Fund. Since January, the scheme has been extended to the self-employed. Recipients of carer's benefit were among the 138,000 carers who received a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Absolutely. I think in a couple of weeks the Deputy will see a full indication of this Government's ongoing commitment to carers. As he knows, the carer's benefit is subject to an earnings limit of €450 per week after tax. As part of budget 2025, the income limit will increase to €625 with effect from July, which will allow far more carers to avail of carer's benefit. We...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I have met the carers' forum in the Department. I will continue to use that forum with carers' groups for consultation. I am sure the joint committee will have good input on that, as well as Deputies in this House. We have made changes this year. As I said, carer's benefit was extended to the self-employed as part of budget 2025. At the end of April, we had 139 applications from...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Costs (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. I do not mind at all. The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a once-off annual payment to eligible families to assist with the cost of clothing and footwear when children start or start back at school each autumn. Last year, the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance payments totalled €57.04 million. This was paid to more...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Costs (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: On the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance for foster families, it was an anomaly that foster children could not qualify for this scheme. This was even to the extent that there could be foster children and other children within a family. Some of the children would have qualified and the foster children would not. I have corrected that anomaly. There are means tests, however,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government welcomes the publication of the fourth child poverty monitor. I acknowledge and thank the Children's Rights Alliance and its constituent members for the work they have put into this. The child poverty monitor draws on the survey on income and living conditions, SILC, 2024, which was published by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, in March 2025. It is based on a survey...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I wish to reiterate that we are disappointed by the latest child poverty figures. However, it is important to recognise that in 2023, when the SILC income data was collected, the Government had not yet brought in free school meals for all primary schools, which we have now done, or free school books across second level, which we have now done. Those supports will make a difference to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: It will require continuous targeted investment. We will be making choices in the context of budget 2026 regarding targeted supports for children and families. I look forward to the Deputy's support for those. In the context of the programme for Government, we will continue to retain the child poverty and well-being office in the Department of the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach made it very...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed to providing quality service to all, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made in a timely manner. We absolutely understand the pressures people face, and we ensure that claims are processed quickly and efficiently. There are almost 170,000 people in receipt of disability allowance, DA, and more than 100,000 people in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for his feedback. We discussed this matter in the context of preparing a reply to his question. We are putting a huge number of resources into dealing with appeals. We have 20 extra staff who have been assigned to the appeals unit. They have been trained up and are working. The number of domiciliary care appeals decreased from approximately 1,200 in the middle of May...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: In recent weeks, I took the time to try to visit all the Department's regional offices in which many of these claims are dealt with, including our head office in Dublin. I met all the staff, and they are doing absolutely fantastic work. We have nearly 7,000 members of staff across the Department of Social Protection, many of whom are managing these claims and turning them around as quickly...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The carer's allowance is the main scheme by means of which my Department provides income supports to carers in every community. As the Deputy will be aware, more than 100,000 people are in receipt of carer's allowance. Expenditure on the scheme in the current year is estimated to be more than €1.24 billion. Carer’s allowance provides an income support to people whose earning...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I reiterate our full support for carers. I fully recognise the gender impact caring has. Deputy Ardagh is right to highlight that. It is important to look at the progress made on disregards in recent years. I want that to continue and for more people to qualify for the payment. The carer's support grant, which was paid at the beginning of June, is not subject to a means test. It is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I assure the Deputy that we are working on the plan and on what will be involved, not only financially but also in other ways, in the context of abolishing the means test, and we will continue to do so. I also highlight that a great deal of work has been done to support long-term carers. The long-term carer's contribution scheme ensures that people who have been full-time carers for at...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Mar is eol an Teachta, child benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their nineteenth birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Expenditure on the scheme in the current year is estimated at more than €2.2...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Táimid ag obair ar an two-tier payment. We are looking at that but there is quite a lot of work involved and it is a complex issue to examine. In the meantime, budget 2025 had targeted increases in the one-parent family payment and the jobseeker's transitional payment, which increased by €12 per week. The weekly rate of the child support payment, which is very important in this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: That is our intention. The work of the Department is to help those who are struggling. To give the Deputy a sense of the complexity of this, one of the considerations in the ESRI proposal was to amalgamate the working family payment with the child support payment but that would result in people losing out on what they are getting at the moment. If we are to do this, people cannot lose out....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Job Losses (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for his question. I am very well informed of the situation at Wellman by the Minister of State, Deputy Niamh Smyth. There is significant uncertainty for the employees, their families and the wider community and our thoughts are with those workers. Our priority within the Department of Social Protection is to ensure that affected employees receive access to all necessary...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Job Losses (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Yes. There is a long tradition with this company. There were previous short-term layoffs in 2023 and there was engagement at that time with the Department of Social Protection. There was departmental engagement on 9, 10 and 12 June of this year. We have been notified that there will be a number of redundancies but we will engage with each person. Intreo staff will provide a personalised...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Job Losses (19 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Yes, jobseeker's pay-related benefit has been in place since March of this year and will apply. We have already received quite a number of applications - over 10,000 - so that is very much in place. Furthermore, the experience of MyWelfare.ie and people being able to apply online gives us a quicker turnaround and ensures that people do not have any major gaps in their income. There are...