Results 1,681-1,700 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Data (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2076, 2101 and 2117 together. Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to around 626,525 families in...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Data (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2078, 2084, 2113 and 2120 together. The cost of increasing the One Parent Family Payment and the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment earnings disregard from €110 per week to €146.50 per week is set out in tabular form below: Scheme Increase income disregard to: Approximate cost to the Exchequer in a full year One Parent Family Payment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2079 and 2123 together. Increases for a Qualified Child (IQCs) are paid as child-related supplements to most weekly social welfare payments in recognition of the need for greater incomes among benefit-dependent households with dependent children. The current full rate of payment is €29.80 per week per dependent child. The estimated expenditure on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payments (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2080 and 2124 together. Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided €31.5 million for exceptional needs...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Transitional Payment (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2081, 2085 and 2121 together. The jobseeker’s transitional payment (JST) is available to lone parents (both former one-parent family payment recipients and new lone parents), who have a youngest child aged 7 to 13 years inclusive. These customers are exempt from the jobseeker’s allowance conditions that require them to be available for, and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Blind Person's Pension (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: Blind pension is a means-tested payment for blind and visually impaired people between the ages of 18 and 66 who are habitually resident in Ireland. In the case of a married couple or a civil partnership, a means test will take into account any income belonging to the individual and the income of their spouse or partner. As a general rule, the joint means is then divided by two to determine...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: Lone parents who wish to undertake a full time third level education course can continue to receive income support from my Department irrespective of the age of the youngest child or whether or not they are in receipt of rent supplement. For those lone parents in receipt of the One-Parent Family payment, without rent supplement, they may have access to both the SUSI maintenance grant and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Relocation (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: There are currently no plans to transfer any of my Department’s staff from payroll services in Dundalk to the National Shared Services Office in Clonskeagh.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Citizen Information Services (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: In February 2017, the Board of Citizens Information Board (CIB) decided to change the governance model from ninety three local Citizens Information Services (CIS) and Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS) companies to a new sixteen regional board model, comprising eight CIS and eight MABS companies. CIB has established an implementation group to progress the change. The group will...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: An overpayment of social welfare benefit or assistance is assessed as part of the statutory decision-making process provided for under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005. When a revised decision on a social welfare entitlement is made, the claimant is notified of the outcome and the value of any overpayment assessed. In line with the statutory provisions, the person concerned is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit Applications (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: My Department has made good progress on processing of maternity claims and I can report that all claims relating to women who have already commenced their maternity leave have now been processed and the waiting time for these customers has been eliminated. My Department is currently processing claims where the expectant mother is commencing her maternity leave in the week commencing 19 June....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Bodies Code of Conduct (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: The statutory bodies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Pensions Council, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Social Welfare Tribunal. Under Section 8.47 of the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies,a report on a State body’s compliance with tax laws should be furnished each year to its relevant parent...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Paternity Benefit Applications (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: The processing of paternity benefit claims by my Department is generally kept up to date, with claims processed as the fathers commence their paternity leave. However, many fathers submit their claims after they have taken the paternity leave and so can only receive their payment after the leave ends. Claims are processed by reference to the ‘commencement of paternity leave...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit Applications (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: My Department has made good progress on processing of maternity claims and I can report that all claims relating to women who have already commenced their maternity leave have now been processed and the waiting time for these customers has been eliminated. My Department is currently processing claims where the expectant mother is commencing her maternity leave in the week commencing 19 June....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Administration (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) is a labour market activation programme which helps long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged groups to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. It is designed to be a temporary fixed-term activation intervention. The programme assists participants to enhance and develop their skills,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud Data (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: Prosecutions are taken against persons who defraud the social welfare payments system and employers who fail to carry out their statutory obligations. The majority of social welfare cases are taken summarily in the District Courts, with more serious cases prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on indictment in the Circuit Courts. In considering cases for legal proceedings,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Review (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: Following the publication earlier in the year of my Department’s Report - An Analysis of the Community Employment Programme -the Government approved a number of changes to the terms and conditions of participation on Community Employment (CE). The main purpose of these changes is to broaden the availability of CE to a greater number of people on the live register and to standardise...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: New Communities Unit (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: As the Deputy is aware from previous PQ responses on this matter, the New Communities Unit (NCU) of the Department of Social Protection offers assistance to families who are primarily non-Irish, homeless and generally without recourse to any weekly income. The main focus of the unit is to ensure that families who are entitled an income maintenance payment receive same, under the terms of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Services Programme (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Community Services Programme (CSP) provides financial support to community companies that provide revenue generating services of a social inclusion nature. Many of these companies are also funded from other sources and generate revenue from the public use of their facilities and services. The additional programme cost involved in increasing the CSP contribution to match the minimum wage...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Data (20 Jun 2017)

Regina Doherty: The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private transport operators. There are currently approx. 882,000...