Results 16,361-16,380 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned applied for a jobseeker's allowance payment on 15 October 2008. A Deciding Officer disallowed his claim from that date on the grounds that he failed to show that his means did not exceed the maximum rate payable to a person in his circumstances. Following an appeal his claim was forwarded to a Social Welfare Inspector for re-examination. The inspector will examine his...

Written Answers — Money Advice and Budgeting Service: Money Advice and Budgeting Service (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is the main Government funded service which provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. There are 53 independent companies with voluntary boards of management operating the local services throughout the country. In 2009 almost €18 million has been provided to fund the service....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned claimed Jobseeker's Allowance on 14 November 2008 at North Cumberland St. Local Office. Jobseeker's Allowance (JA) is a means-tested scheme, which means that the person must satisfy qualifying conditions and pass a means test to see if he/she qualifies for payment. The person concerned is self-employed as a taxi driver since 2004. He advised the Social Welfare Inspector...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned applied for carer's allowance on 22 February 2008. When the care recipient is under 16 years of age it is a condition that domiciliary care allowance be in payment in order to qualify for carer's allowance. On 23 December 2008 the person's claim was refused on the grounds that domiciliary care allowance was not in payment. She was notified of this decision, the reasons...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Disability Allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged over 16 and under 66. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to both medical assessment and a means test. The person concerned applied for disability allowance on 21 November 2008. Following a medical examination on 26 January 2009 by this...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department has no record of receiving an application for Jobseekers Allowance from the person concerned. If she wishes to submit an application, she should contact her local Social Welfare Office.

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department has a major programme of business, organisational and technological change underway to enable it to modernise the services which it provides to its customers. Ensuring that we maximise the potential of Information Technology is a significant aspect of this and external consultancy firms are used to assist the Department with this work. Consultancy is defined in the Department...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Civil service posts at the levels of Assistant Secretary and Deputy Secretary are covered by a scheme of performance related awards. Recommendations in relation to awards are made by the Secretary General of each department and the operation of the scheme is overseen by the Committee for Performance Awards. The funding for awards is based on 10% of the payroll for the posts covered by the...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 430 and 431 together. With the increase in the number of people applying for unemployment payments in particular, staff in social welfare offices have been working extremely hard to process claims as quickly as possible. I know that processing times in some areas are still too long and I assure the Deputy that we are doing our best to reduce them. I...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: In addition to its own network of Social Welfare Local Offices my Department delivers a front-line service to the public through 62 Branch Offices. Each Branch Office is operated, under a contract for services, by a Branch Manager who acts as an agent for the Department in the district served by the Branch Office. The method of remuneration for Branch Managers is agreed at the Branch...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department of Social and Family Affairs offers a range of education and employment supports designed to assist and facilitate people on social welfare payments to return to the active labour force. The back to education allowance (BTEA) is the main education support scheme of the Department. It is designed to encourage people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and...

Private Rented Accommodation. (11 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this issue and for acknowledging the importance of the scheme, the amount of money spent on it and the people who benefit from it. It is administered on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive, HSE. It is expected that accommodation occupied by rent supplement tenants should at...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 229 to 231, inclusive, together. The total number of jobseeker claims awaiting a decision at Mallow, Fermoy, Midleton, Youghal and Cobh local offices as at 1st February 2009 and the average processing time for claims decided in January 2009 are provided in the following table. The offices listed in the questions, with the exception of Cobh, are Branch...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: An application for disability allowance by the person concerned was disallowed by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 26 August 2008 following a review by a Medical Assessor who considered him to be medically unsuitable for the allowance. He appealed this decision and, in the context of this appeal, he was examined on 21 October 2008 by a different Medical Assessor who also expressed the...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 164 and 172 together. The pension rights of scheme members are protected through trust law and by provision in the Pensions Act 1990 as amended. Defined benefit pension schemes are required to comply with the funding standard provision set out in the Pensions Act. This funding standard requires defined benefit pension schemes to maintain sufficient assets to...

Written Answers — National Disability Strategy: National Disability Strategy (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: In line with the provisions of the Disability Act 2005, the National Disability Strategy and Towards 2016, and as reflected in the various Departmental Sectoral Plans published in 2006, the continued development of services for people with disabilities to ensure their financial security as well as their maximum participation in society is a key goal for the Government. Given that the...

Written Answers — Freedom of Information: Freedom of Information (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department received 370 requests in 2007 and 485 requests in 2008, under the Freedom of Information Acts, 1997 and 2003. A monthly breakdown for these years is contained in the accompanying tables. The majority of refusals involve cases where the records requested do not exist, the records relate to a third party, or the requestor sought the identity of a person who reported suspected...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme provides for the payment of rent supplement to eligible people whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs. Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive. Rent supplement is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Jobseekers allowance is a means tested payment made to those who fulfill certain conditions which includes that the person is available for work, looking for work and satisfies a means test. The means of a self-employed person would be taken as the net profit that they will earn in the coming 12 months. While their income from the previous twelve months is used as an indication in estimating...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 169 and 170 together. The amounts received in Employer's and Employee's PRSI in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 are laid out in the following table. The figures for 2008 are provisional at this time. People who are self-employed also pay PRSI contributions. The relevant total amounts received are also included in the table, for completeness. PRSI Receipts...