Results 15,341-15,360 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Written Answers — Poverty Levels: Poverty Levels (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 230 and 231 together. The main data on poverty levels in Ireland are derived from the annual EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). Results for the fourth year of the survey, 2006, were published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in November 2007. The survey results do not break down poverty rates by county, as the survey sample size is too...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE), as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The Executive has advised that the person concerned is in receipt of a weekly payment of supplementary welfare allowance while awaiting the outcome of a claim to Jobseeker's allowance. It has been decided...
- Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Citizens Information Board began a process in 2004 of engaging the community and voluntary sector in the provision of advocacy services to people with disabilities. It also produced advocacy guidelines to inform and guide organisations in the development of advocacy services. The Community and Voluntary Sector Advocacy programme has to date developed and funded 46 advocacy projects. Each...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE), as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The Executive has confirmed that the person concerned has contacted the community welfare officer (CWO) but has not made an application for rent supplement. He was evicted from Dublin City Council housing...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The person concerned is 20 years of age. In general, to qualify for a back to education allowance (second level option) a person must be 21 years of age. Exceptions to this condition are made if the applicant has been out of formal education for two years; or has been made redundant and has received statutory redundancy payments. These criteria do not apply in his case. He is, therefore,...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The telephone allowance is a component of the household benefits package which also includes the electricity/gas allowance and free television licence schemes. The package is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare payment or who satisfy a means test. It is also available to people aged under 66 who are in receipt of...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The person concerned, made an application for disability allowance on 14 January 2008 at which time she was assessed by a Medical Assessor of the Department who considered her to be medically unsuitable for disability allowance. She appealed this decision on 5 March 2008 and, in the context of this appeal, she was examined by a second Medical Assessor on 24 April 2008 who also expressed the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: As provided for in the Department's Modernisation Action Plan a strategic review of customer facing services is currently underway. The terms of reference for the review provide, inter alia, for recommendations in relation to the criteria to be used to determine the locations in which the Department should have a Local Office or Branch Office presence. The position in relation to the Branch...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, an exceptional needs payment (ENP) may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost which the applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources. There is no automatic entitlement to this payment. Each application is...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme (SWA), which includes mortgage interest supplement, is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The scheme is delivered locally by community welfare officers (CWOs). The CWO interviews the claimant when they first present to enquire about their possible entitlement for mortgage...
- Leaders' Questions (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: That is not true.
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I wish to share time with Deputy Brendan Smith. Social welfare has been prioritised in this budget because next year total funding for the Department of Social and Family Affairs will be â¬19.6 billion. This represents an increase of â¬2.6 billion or 15.5% over the Estimates allocation for 2008. More than 1.7 million people and their dependents will benefit from this expenditure,...
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Unfortunately, it has been necessary to take some steps to reduce expenditure but these have been kept to the absolute minimum and applied in a careful manner.
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: As Deputies will appreciate, there was no easy way to achieve the required savings. Consideration had to be given to a wide range of changes and very difficult decisions had to be made. Neither I nor the Government have taken these decisions lightly. In total, the new expenditure control measures contained in the social welfare budget will amount to net savingsââ
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: ââof â¬124.9 million next year when compensatory measures are taken into account. Of this, â¬72.7 million is accounted for by changes to the social insurance system. As Members know, Ireland's social welfare system is based on two quite different types of entitlement, a social insurance system for people who have paid sufficient PRSI contributions and a social assistance system for...
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: A further anomaly that exists at present is that some people, who were previously working part-time, can receive a higher rate of payment from these schemes than what they were actually earning while at work. Again, this is considered to be inappropriate and a disincentive to employment. Therefore, from next January, this situation will be addressed by increasing the earnings thresholds...
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: At present, it is necessary to have made 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year to qualify for illness benefit. However, this condition does not exist for jobseeker's benefit, with the result that people who may not have paid PRSI contributions in the past number of years can qualify. Again, it is considered that this position does not adequately reflect the contribution-based...
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Where the claimant has less than 260 paid contributions, the maximum duration of jobseeker's benefit will be nine months, instead of 12 months, if the claimant currently has been in receipt of benefit for less than three months and in respect of all new claimants. New claimants for jobseeker's benefit will in future have to have paid a total of at least 104 contributions to the social...
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The maximum rate of these two schemes is paid at the same rate as jobseeker's benefit. The final social insurance change involves a new limit on the duration of illness benefit payments. Illness benefit was intended to provide income replacement for insured persons during short spells of incapacity or illness, while other payments are available to people who cannot work long term because of...
- Financial Resolution No. 15: (General) Resumed (15 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: As an alleviating measure, the age for entitlement to the domiciliary care allowance is being increased from 16 years to 18 years. It is estimated that a weekly average of 539 persons will be affected by this measure in 2009 and 2,115 in a full year. These changes are expected to save â¬5.6 million in 2009 and â¬16.6 million a year from 2010. The changes being made this year to illness...