Results 16,101-16,120 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The rent supplement scheme is important in helping people find accommodation. It is always intended to be a short-term payment. The way it complements the rental accommodation scheme is very important. I do not propose to accept the amendment but I will keep the rent supplement under review because of the amount of money we spend on it. Some 70,000 people benefit from rent supplement....

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I am not sure of the exact answer to the question but there was a Government decision to facilitate the move of 115 people so perhaps it is the exception rather than the norm.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I do not propose to accept the amendment. This is a valuable scheme which supports many people and the amount of money provided in the back to school clothing and footwear allowance covers what it is intended to cover, namely, a uniform and shoes. I would not pretend that it also covers school books and I appreciate the pressure on people in this regard. This year, €49 million is being...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: Given all the various price increases, the prices of clothing and footwear have fallen over the past 12 months and I anticipate this will remain the case. I appreciate the value of the scheme and I will try constantly to ensure that more families benefit from it.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I do not propose to accept the amendment. An issue is raised with regard to children being at risk of poverty. As has been mentioned, most of these children tend to be the children of lone parents and they must always be a target group. Payment of child benefit has always been the way in which we have supported families. Child benefit is paid in respect of approximately 1.071 million...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The early childhood supplement is designed to support the cost of child care and not only that but to support parents in looking after their children wherever they choose to do so. It is a good scheme. Changes have been introduced by the budget, largely as a cost-saving measure and to ensure that we continue to target children at pre-school age. When it was introduced it was on a quarterly...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The savings from this next year will be €97 million, which is a significant amount of money. Given the way the scheme was devised in the first instance, the parents of a child born in March received the payment for the full quarter of January, February and March, which meant they received a payment for a child not yet born. If a child was six in January the parent received the payment for...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I do not propose to accept the amendment. The back to education allowance is an important benefit and one that I have promoted since my appointment. One of the positive statistics to emerge from the latest Central Statistics Office data is the 24% increase in the numbers participating in the scheme. This indicates its effectiveness. The scheme was designed to support the long-term...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The adequacy of social welfare payments will always be questioned. We have always tried to maintain the basic rate of payment at 35% to 37% of the average industrial wage and we succeeded in doing that again this year. Obviously, it was not possible to be as generous in the budget package this year as in previous years but we provided for a 3.3% increase which we anticipated would match...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I am on record as asking financial institutions to show forbearance with clients, not to foreclose early and to give people an opportunity to reschedule their payments or pay only the interest on mortgages, an issue raised by Senator Prendergast. However, arrangements the Government makes on behalf of taxpayers to ensure money is made available more freely to the banks in order that small...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I have not held formal talks. As I indicated, however, I had a casual conversation with the chief executive of one of the large banks. The Government deals with the major institutions whereas the companies taking cases to court tend to be sub-prime lenders. I have discussed the issue with the Minister for Finance and I may discuss it again.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: To give the Senator an idea of the control activity which has taken place this year, at the end of September almost 290,000 reviews and 2,300 employer inspections had been carried out. These measures produced savings of €337 million. The special investigation unit is doing more regular interviews of jobseeker's payments recipients, especially those with high risk ratings. These may be...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I have addressed the issue of carers and we will produce the carers strategy. I do not propose to accept the amendment. Regarding the fuel issue, at the time budget submissions were made fuel prices were at the highest level ever and they are now at the lowest in 20 years, so now is a good time to buy. Pensioners in particular were glad of the two week extension, which ensures the fuel...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: As Senators are aware, Part 5 of the Bill is necessary to give effect to the Government decision to integrate the Combat Poverty Agency with the Office of Social Inclusion in the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The decision arose from a recommendation made by a review group that was established on foot of a Government decision in June 2007. Long before I was appointed as Minister...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I certainly appreciate the interest and passion of the Senators on this matter. The interest and passion is more about combating poverty than in just having an agency, and everybody would share that. That will always be at the core of my policies, particularly in the portfolio I now hold. Senators will be well aware that the development of the DEIS scheme in education was about doing the...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: And his marriage.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: And six wives.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 398 and 415 together. The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social welfare payments with effect from 1 May 2004, in the context of the Government's decision to open the Irish labour market to workers from the 10 new EU Member States without the transitional limitations which were imposed at...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: Further to my response to Parliamentary Question 40903/08 on 18 November 2008, I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there is no update to the information given in that response. Every effort will be made to have this appeal dealt with as quickly as possible. The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an office of the Department that is independently responsible for determining...

Written Answers — Data Protection: Data Protection (17 Dec 2008)

Mary Hanafin: This Department administers some fifty schemes and makes payments to one million people each week. Because of the nature, scale and diversity of its work, the Department holds extensive and detailed personal information about its customers and takes its responsibilities to safeguard this data extremely seriously. Every effort is made by the Department and the agencies under its aegis to...