Results 17,221-17,240 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult in need of full-time care and attention. An increased payment can be made where full-time care is being provided to two people. To qualify, the carer must satisfy PRSI conditions, employment conditions, show that they are providing full-time care...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Pensions Commission’s Report was published on the 7th October 2021. It contained almost 250 pages of analysis, consideration and recommendations. The report established that the current State Pension system is not sustainable into the future and it has set out a recommended approach for Government. In the interests both of older people and future generations of older people, I...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Investigations (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Information and data is critical to the business of the Department of Social Protection. It is, therefore, vitally important to maintain the Department’s good record in relation to safeguarding confidential data and the confidence of the public. Therefore, the Department closely monitors issues around data breaches, whether they be personal or non-personal, including conducting...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body with responsibility for the Citizens Information Service (CIS). CIB provides funding to eight CIS companies that operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres. Each CIS is a limited company overseen by a board of directors and makes decisions independently on the delivery of services in their regions. Decisions...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is a statutory body with an information, advice and advocacy role in relation to a wide range of public and social services. CIB lies under the aegis of my Department, which provides annual Exchequer funding to CIB to deliver on its statutory functions. The CIB provides funding to eight Citizens Information Services companies that operate a national...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in-work payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. In order to qualify for WFP, an applicant must have a qualified child and be engaged in full-time paid employment as an employee for not less than 38 hours per fortnight. A Working Family Payment application for the person concerned was received on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all the available evidence, disallowed the appeal of the person concerned on 18 October 2021. Since then the Appeals Officer has carried out three reviews of the decision under Section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 on the basis of the provision of new facts or evidence. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, which is supporting up to an estimated 400,000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Currently, five weeks Parent's Leave and Benefit is available to all eligible parents of children born or adopted from 1 November 2019. The leave and benefit must be availed of within the first two years of the child’s life or adoption. In Budget 2022, the Government provided for the number of weeks of Parent's Leave and Benefit available to eligible parents to be increased from...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Government acknowledges the important role that carers play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the current State Pension (Contributory) system already includes a comprehensive range of measures including PRSI Credits, Homemaker's Disregards and HomeCaring Periods to recognise caring periods outside of paid employment in the calculation of a pension...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The LEADER Food Initiative is administered at local level by Local Action Groups (LAGs) with overall funding allocated at a national level by my Department. Project applications are in the first instance considered at local level, with subsequent final project approval signed off by my Department on a first come first served basis. As with all funding programmes, there is a finite budget...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In August last year, I launched the 2021 Streetscape Enhancement Measure. The aim of the Measure is to improve the visual appearance of our urban streetscapes, which will bring about growth and increase confidence in our towns and villages, and make them more attractive places to reside in. Under the Measure I allocated €7 million to Local Authorities to support activities such as...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Investigations (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department was established in July 2017. In the intervening period, there was one instance in which a list of projects that were successful for funding under a scheme administered by my Department was released in error by Fáilte Ireland in advance of the official announcement of the successful project applicants. My Department requested Fáilte Ireland to investigate this...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is funded into the future. The LIS supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities. The scheme makes an important contribution to connectivity in rural Ireland. The scheme was reintroduced in 2017 following a number of years...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Government Communications (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The requested contact details are as follows: - Minister for Rural and Community Development: ministerdrcd@drcd.gov.ie. - Minister of State with responsibility for Community Development and Charities: ministerofstate@drcd.gov.ie.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Animal Breeding (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has overall policy responsibility for the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010. The Act provides a robust regulatory framework for the licensing, monitoring and inspection of dog breeding establishments by local authorities and, where a serious and immediate threat exists to public health or animal health and welfare, for the closure of such establishments. Under the Dog...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Greenways Provision (24 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) provides funding for the development of new outdoor recreational infrastructure and for the maintenance and promotion of existing infrastructure. Under Measure 2 of the ORIS 2019 Scheme, Louth County Council was approved €200,000 to develop and enhance the Boyne Greenway. No funding has been drawn down on this project to date. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (25 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In recent years, on foot of a commitment in the Roadmap for Pensions Reform (2018), my Department has developed proposals for a system of indexation for the State Pension (Contributory) scheme known as the “smoothed earnings” approach.  This approach aims to ensure that the relative value of State Pension (Contributory) compared to market earnings would be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (25 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Public Services Card (PSC) establishes and fully authenticates a person’s identity, assisting them in accessing a range of public services in an easy and safe manner. It is the case that some offices in my Department, including the Newbridge Intreo Centre are experiencing high levels of demand for PSC appointments.  Additional staff have been assigned to increase capacity...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (25 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The SAFE registration process, which my Department uses to authenticate a person's identity, is a face to face process which results in the issuing of a Public Services Card (PSC).  Currently, it is not possible for someone who does not already have a PSC to acquire one without attending an in-person appointment. My Department is exploring the delivery of services to augment the current...