Results 15,941-15,960 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The research that has been undertaken by the Department is attempting to ascertain the current level of take-up among those who would qualify for FIS, as well as the reasons they are not availing of it. This will help the Department to determine future policy in this regard. However, the biggest increase in applications arose from a nationwide awareness campaign in 2006. While there were...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I am advised that it was by looking at the Department's own data on people's income levels and contacting them directly. In other words, people who had applied for other benefits or whatever.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: No, while that might include those who had made contact with the Department of Social and Family Affairs, not everyone necessarily would have done so. For example, the Department does not have income rates for those who are in receipt of child benefit, whereas Revenue has data on low income earners. It should be remembered that these are the people who qualify for this supplement and not...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: My Department has data, for example, on lone parents who also are low income earners. Consequently, it would be able to target them for this information.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I do not propose to accept the amendment. PRSI issues had to be looked at in the round in the context of the budget. There is a commitment in the programme for Government envisaging abolishing the PRSI ceiling and reducing the PRSI rate. Both were predicated on there being an average growth rate of 4.5%, which has not happened. For various reasons, particularly from the point of view of...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The matter is complex. It has always been our intention to try to do it before the end of the year but it will be a long-term strategy. It is not essential that it comes out of the end of the year because it would not take effect for a couple of years in any event. For example, in the UK it does not take effect until 2012 and there is quite a long lead-in period. Any change in the pensions...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: There are two pensions issues. The first is the long-term strategy and the other is the immediate difficulties faced by some pension funds. Since the publication of the Green Paper over a year ago there has been a widespread consultation process, a summary of that consultation and a review at a conference in Ireland of the international situation, particularly looking at the experience in...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: There is no real need for people to be individually concerned about it. I understand that people are looking at the market and realising that the value of their pension plan has reduced. Naturally, that is something that will cause nervousness and fear. The memo that was prepared by my Department â not leaked, as Deputy Enright statedââ
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: ââwas to make the Government aware of the difficulties of the individual funds. Hopefully, as the markets pick up, the position can improve for people in that regard. As I already indicated, we are allowing employers more time to come up with their funding proposals to ensure that their pension funds can get back into a solvent position. The Pensions Board will allow up to ten years...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: It is important that we keep matters under review. That is our aim.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: One of our key policy areas is finding a path between the long-term strategy and the short-term difficulties that pension funds are experiencing,
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I addressed this matter briefly earlier. I do not have any indication of what was said at the briefing but I take on board the impression the Deputies got from it. As I indicated earlier, the foster care allowance is â¬312 per child under 12, or â¬339 per child aged 12 or over. Therefore, a recipient could be getting â¬678 for fostering two children. To get the lone parent allowance on...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The end result would be somebody getting â¬3,500 a month.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I am not sure that any one case is sufficient grounds to change legislation anyway. That arises in many different cases. One would never change a whole piece of legislation just to facilitate one particular scenario. The end result would be somebody getting â¬40,000 a year to look after two foster children.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Deputy was given an impression at the briefing, however, and I will look into the issue for the future.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: For a certain amount of the time, the provision would ensure that a category of unmarried persons is not excluded by removing the old anomaly that is there. The current definition includes five different people: widow, widower, separated spouse, an unmarried person or a person whose spouse has been committed in custody to a prison or a place of detention for not less than six months. They...
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: My understanding of the case raised by the Deputy, that of an unmarried couple living together, is that the biological parent leaves the relationship or dies and the non-biological parent is left caring for the child.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The remaining partner would still be a non-biological parent. Section 13 improves that person's position, but he or she would need to seek legal guardianship of the child, which is in the child's best interests.
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Is the Deputy asking whether someone would qualify for the one-parent family payment on the basis of the definition?
- Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)
Mary Hanafin: If the person becomes the child's legal guardian, he or she would qualify under the new section. It has nothing to do with the other payments being received.