Results 16,601-16,620 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (5 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Family Income Supplement (FIS) provides income support for employees on low earnings with families. This preserves the incentive to 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. Qualification for payment under this scheme requires that a person must be engaged in insurable...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (5 Mar 2009)

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 social welfare payments or carer's allowance. The package which includes the electricity and gas allowance, telephone...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: There has been no change in the treatment of firefighters for jobseeker's payments. Social Welfare legislation provides that a person must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work in order to be entitled to jobseeker's benefit or allowance. Any person who fails to satisfy these conditions on an on-going basis is not entitled to a jobseeker's payment....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (5 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: There has been no change to the provisions relating to the entitlement of self-employed persons to a jobseeker's allowance. Self-employed people may apply for the means-tested jobseeker's allowance if their business ceases or if they are on low income as a result of a downturn in demand for their services. Legislation provides for the assessment of all income in cash and any non-cash...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The maximum rent supplement for a couple with three children in Co. Kildare is €1,200 per month. The Executive has advised that the person concerned is in receipt of rent supplement of €721.59 per month since 5...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The couple concerned are in receipt of a combined income (from employment, family income supplement and supplementary welfare allowance) of €365.90 per week, at this time. This is the maximum rate payable in respect of a couple with one qualified child. One of the couple had applied for jobseeker's allowance on 4 February 2009 and an interview with a social welfare inspector took place on...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned was paid Family Income Supplement (FIS) from 22 April 2004 to 28 January 2009. Payment should have stopped when she ceased employment on 29 August 2008, however, she failed to notify the family income supplement section of the change in her circumstances. She applied for, and was awarded, One Parent Family Payment (OPFP) with effect from 12 June 2008. During a review...

Unemployment Levels: Motion (10 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Tá áthas orm an deis seo a ghlacadh chun labhairt ar an ábhar seo. I appreciate the fact that the Labour Party has tabled this motion recognising the difficulties people are experiencing. This time last year none of us would have imagined the current scale of unemployment, nor the terrible atrocities that have happened in Northern Ireland. It has happened so quickly that the whole...

Unemployment Levels: Motion (10 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Some 16 social welfare inspectors are also being assigned to various locations throughout the country to undertake means testing and other work associated with processing claims for the jobseeker's allowance. This is important at the initial stage of making claims — particularly the jobseeker's allowance where means testing is done as quickly as possible — but also as a control measure...

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

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 321 and 333 together. Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. Rent supplement is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of SWA appropriate to their family circumstances less a minimum...

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

Mary Hanafin: Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. There are currently almost 80,000 households in receipt of rent supplement. The following tabular statement shows the number of households in receipt of rent supplement of more than €800 per month in each county. Recipients of Rent Supplement...

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

Mary Hanafin: An unemployed person may qualify for Jobseekers Benefit or Jobseekers Allowance. Jobseekers Benefit is based on a person's social insurance record and Jobseekers Allowance is based on weekly means. A fundamental qualifying condition for the benefit is that a person must be available for full-time work. However, a person who engages in voluntary work within the State may continue to be...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (10 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: In assessing means derived from payments received from EU Member States (including U.K.) which do not form part of the EMU currencies, the Department uses the conversion mechanism provided for under Article 107 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 574/72 on Social Security for Migrant Workers. The exchange rates for converting Sterling and other non-EMU currencies are published quarterly in the...

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

Mary Hanafin: The Health Service Executive has advised that payment of rent supplement for the month of March 2009 and arrears due will issue on 30 March 2009.

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

Mary Hanafin: In assessing the means of a person under 25 years who is living with a parent or step-parent in the family home, account is taken of the value of the benefit and privilege enjoyed by that person by virtue of the fact that they have free board and lodgings. Board and lodging are taken into account because a person living at home with parents does not have the same expenses as a person who...

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

Mary Hanafin: I appreciate that there are delays in processing claims in some areas and that this is causing difficulties for some people. However, the average processing time for jobseekers benefit claims processed in February was 3 weeks. This is the national average and there are differences from office to office. The Department is continuously reviewing its processes in order to deal with claims in a...

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

Mary Hanafin: A self-employed person is not required to cease trading before they can qualify for jobseekers allowance. A self-employed person can apply for this scheme if their business ceases or if their income falls as a result of a downturn in demand for their services. Jobseekers allowance is a means-tested payment and any person who satisfies the means test and the other conditions of entitlement...

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

Mary Hanafin: There is no difference in the rules that apply to Irish and other EU recipients regarding the transfer of jobseeker's benefit to another European country. However, jobseeker's allowance is not a transferable payment. Under Article 69 of EU Regulation 1408/71 a person who has been in receipt of jobseeker's benefit in one of the European countries for at least 4 weeks, may transfer this...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (10 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Under the decentralisation programme, the Department's headquarters, including the Secretary General and a number of senior officials of the Department, are designated to relocate to Drogheda. The Social Welfare Appeals Office and the Department's Information and Communications Technology Division are also designated to relocate to Drogheda. There are no plans to locate the Secretary General...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (10 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: During 2008, an interdepartmental group, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, with secretariat support provided by my Department, undertook work, including a public consultation process, to develop a National Carers' Strategy. While a number of drafts were produced covering the areas outlined in the terms of reference, a final text was not completed by the working group. Faced with...