Results 15,681-15,700 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Towards 2016 includes a commitment to study the extent to which children undertake inappropriate care roles and the impact on their lives. The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has the lead role in relation to this study, which aims to develop mechanisms to identify young carers aged 5-17 years, the positive and negative impact of caring on their lives, and to make...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 106 together. The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over and to people receiving certain disability or care payments. Proposals to extend the free travel scheme to Irish born people living abroad and those receiving pensions from my Department have been examined and, in this regard, officials of the...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 107 and 154 together. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive on behalf of the Department, provides for a weekly or monthly supplement to be paid in respect of mortgage interest. The purpose of the mortgage interest supplement is to provide short term income support to...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Entitlement to a State Pension (Transition) or State Pension (Contributory) is based on a person's social insurance record. The pensions are payable at age 65 and 66 respectively, subject to satisfying the qualifying conditions. State Pension (Non-Contributory) is a means tested pension, payable to people aged 66 or over, subject to satisfying the qualifying conditions. The numbers of people...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The household benefits package is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. It is also available to people aged under 66 who are in receipt of certain disability payments or carer's allowance. The package includes the electricity and gas allowance, telephone allowance and free...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive on behalf of the Department, provides for a weekly or monthly supplement to be paid in respect of mortgage interest. The purpose of the mortgage interest supplement is to provide short term income support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage...
- Written Answers — Child Support: Child Support (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 153 together. The Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents," put forward proposals to tackle obstacles to employment for lone parents and other low income families. These included proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the National...
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I have not made any proposals to Government to merge the employment support services of FÃS with the Department of Social and Family Affairs. FÃS and the Department work together in a complementary way on behalf of people on social welfare payments. Both sides operate under a memorandum of understanding which is updated periodically. Senior officials of the Department hold regular joint...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 113, 136 and 160 together. The household benefits package is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. It is also available to people aged under 66 who are in receipt of certain disability social welfare payments or carer's allowance. The package...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The needs of older people have been a priority for this Government for many years. Under this policy the rate of the contributory pension has increased from â¬147.30 per week in 2002 to more than â¬230 per week from next January, with the non-contributory pension increasing from â¬134.00 per week to â¬219 per week over the same period. In addition to increasing personal rates of pension,...
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 120 together. The Department delivers a front-line service through a network of 61 Local Offices and 64 Branch Offices countrywide. The main services provided from these offices include jobseeker's payment, one-parent family payment and an information service. The Department has put a range of measures in place to deal with the extra workload arising...
- Written Answers — Fuel Poverty: Fuel Poverty (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I share Deputies' concerns about the impact of rising fuel and energy costs. My own priority, as Minister for Social and Family Affairs, is to ensure that Government assistance is available to those who need our help the most, older people, those with disabilities or serious illnesses, and people on low incomes. Government policy in recent years, has focused on increasing primary social...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The family income supplement scheme (FIS), which provides income support for employees on low earnings with families, is designed to preserve the incentive to move from welfare to (or remain in) employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she were claiming other social welfare payments. Since its introduction concern has been expressed...
- Written Answers — National Carers Strategy: National Carers Strategy (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 119 and 451 together. 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, is working on developing the strategy. My Department provides the secretariat to the working group which also...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I understand that the figures required by the Deputy relate to the number of Illness Benefit claims currently pending decision, the number currently in payment and comparative figures for 2006 and 2007. The figures are set out in the following table. Week Ending Claims Pending Decision Claims in Payment Friday 20-Oct-2006 3,357 66,501 Friday 19-Oct-2007 4,820 71,195 Friday 24-Oct-2008...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 123 and 147 together. The free travel and household benefits package are generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. It is also available to people aged under 66 who are in receipt of certain disability payments or carer's allowance. The household...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124, 139, 142 and 144 together. The following table outlines the numbers of claims decided, for each of the schemes concerned, in the first 10 months of 2006, 2007 and 2008: Claims decided to End October Year Scheme 2006 2007 2008 Disability allowance 15,607 15,784 18,430 Carer's Allowance 7,934 11,266 18,050 Carer's Benefit 2,299 2,785 2,850...
- Written Answers — Child Support: Child Support (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Programme for Government 2007-2012 commits to: Amalgamating increases for qualified children (IQCs) and family income supplement (FIS) in order to develop a second tier of income support targeted at the poorest families; Continuing to increase child benefit; and Implementing significant improvements to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance and school meals programme. The...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 159 together. The Pensions Act provides for a Funding Standard which must be met on an ongoing basis by all defined benefit pension schemes. The Funding Standard requires that schemes maintain sufficient assets to enable them to discharge accrued liabilities in the event of a scheme winding up. Where schemes do not satisfy the Funding Standard the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (11 Nov 2008)
Mary Hanafin: While the 2009 Estimates for the Department published on 14th October show a substantial increase over the 2008 estimates, they also include some measures to reduce expenditure. These measures have been kept to the absolute minimum and applied in a careful manner. In addition, the administrative budget provision for 2009 has been reduced by â¬4.3m. The Department is committed to achieving...