Results 1,701-1,720 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Leaders' Questions. (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: So did the Deputy.

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Current social welfare legislation excludes spouses from PRSI liability as both employed and self-employed contributors. This exclusion recognises the practical difficulties in establishing the nature of a genuine employment relationship in circumstances such as when a person employed under a contract of service, that is as an employee, by his or her spouse is classed as an "excepted"...

Written Answers — School Meals: School Meals (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The school meals programme operated by my Department gives funding toward provision of food services for disadvantaged school children through two schemes. The first is the statutory urban school meals scheme, currently operated by 36 local authorities, which provides food services to primary schools. The Department jointly funds the food costs with these local authorities, who also manage...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The current employee PRSI ceiling stands at €44,180 per annum. The abolition of this ceiling would yield an estimated €238.2 million in additional revenue. This estimate is based on a sample of cases from 2003 updated for changes in earnings and the number of contributors. The employee PRSI ceiling is reviewed annually in accordance with the legislative stipulations of the Social Welfare...

Written Answers — EU Legislation: EU Legislation (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 364 to 366, inclusive, together. While in general EU directives may allow all member states to avail of exemptions and derogations, my Department has not sought specific exemptions from any EU directives or regulations. All EU directives for which my Department has responsibility have been transposed into Irish law. The Commission has recently issued a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Fuel allowances are not payable in situations where a person has access to their own fuel supply or benefits from a subsidised or low cost heating service, such as those provided by Dublin City Council at a number of its housing complexes. The basis for this condition is that the contribution that local authority tenants in communal heating situations make towards their heating costs is...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned has been awarded electricity and telephone allowances with effect from 29 September 2004. The relevant service providers have been notified to apply the allowances to the customer's account with effect from 30 September 2005. An arrears payment covering the period 29 September 2004 to 29 September 2005 will be issued to the customer's home address shortly. A free lifetime...

Written Answers — : (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned has been in receipt of unemployment assistance since 30 September 2003. Following a review, a deciding officer assessed the person concerned with means of €276 from 2 November 2005 which were derived from income from her spouse's earnings. As her spouse is working and earning more than €220 per week, she is not entitled to an adult dependant allowance in respect of...

Written Answers — Public Transport: Public Transport (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I have used various methods of public transport in recent years where it was practical to do so. Living within the catchment area of the Luas, I use it from time to time as a most efficient means of travelling, using the green line. In my last post as Minister for Transport, I used mainline and commuter trains on several occasions to go to functions in Louth, Galway and Tipperary, and I used...

Written Answers — National Spatial Strategy: National Spatial Strategy (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The Government published the national spatial strategy, in November 2002. The strategy is a 20 year strategic planning framework for more balanced regional development. My Department was involved in the development of the strategy and is represented on the interdepartmental committee established in May 2003 by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to oversee its...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The normal retirement age allowed by an individual occupational pension scheme, approved by the Revenue Commissioners for tax relief purposes, may be any age within the range 60 to 70 years. However, Revenue rules also allow for early retirement from age 50 and for retirement due to ill health at any age. Section 31(e) of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2005 provides that trustees of a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The carer's allowance is a social assistance payment which provides income support to people who are providing certain elderly or incapacitated persons with full-time care and attention and whose incomes fall below a certain limit. Under current arrangements, which were introduced in 1999 in recognition of the economic and therapeutic value of work, carers may work for up to ten hours per...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The current position in my Department is that 155, or 3.29% of the total staff of my Department are persons with disabilities. The main natures of disabilities in the Department are visual and hearing impairments, physical disabilities and emotional health difficulties. The following table shows the grade breakdown of persons with disabilities in the Department of Social and Family Affairs; ...

Written Answers — North-South Co-operation: North-South Co-operation (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The North-South unit of my Department continuously seeks opportunities for strengthening links with Northern Ireland and pursues a number of issues with the Northern Ireland administration with the objective of promoting effective protection of the social security rights and other forms of social protection of cross-border workers and their families. Contacts include exchanges on the main...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Fuel allowances are paid for 29 weeks from the end of September to mid-April each year. Some 274,000 customers, 151,000 with basic fuel allowance and 123,000 with smokeless fuel supplement, benefit under the scheme at a cost of €85.4 million in 2005. Under the scheme a fuel allowance of €9 per week is paid to eligible households during this 29 week winter heating period. An additional...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: It is Government policy to encourage people, through significant tax relief, to participate in private or occupational pension schemes because of the very positive impact the accrued savings can make to a person's overall income in retirement. Obviously, the earlier someone starts contributing to a pension scheme the better the chance that they will have accumulated a significant retirement...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Diet supplements are provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Statistics on the number of diet supplement applications and the number of diet supplements refused are not maintained by the HSE or on my Department's computer systems. Expenditure on diet supplement in 2005 to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (16 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I proposed to take Question Nos. 329 and 332 together. Supporting carers in our society has been a priority of the Government since 1997. Over that period weekly payment rates to carer's have been greatly increased, qualifying conditions for carers' allowance have been significantly eased, coverage of the scheme has been extended and new schemes such as carers' benefit and the respite care...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (16 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: There are a number of different categories of residency in the Central Mental Hospital as follows: those detained under the categories of "guilty but insane" and "unfit to plead" who are deemed to be detained in legal custody and are not eligible for payment of disability allowance under the Social Welfare Acts and those detained under the relevant Mental Health Acts who are not considered to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (16 Nov 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned was in receipt of carer's allowance from 1 October 1998. Following a review of her entitlement, payment from 4 January 2001 to 30 March 2005 was disallowed by a deciding officer retrospectively, as it was found that the person was working more than ten hours per week. As a consequence, an overpayment of €34,970.31 was assessed against her. The person concerned appealed...