Results 17,401-17,420 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department of Social and Family Affairs, through the wide range of services it provides, touches everyone's life at some stage. Our overall goal is to provide people with the information, financial support and other services they require in a timely and customer-friendly way. The Department administers 2 million applications for 50 different schemes each year. Last month alone, it...

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Each scheme is different and has different requirements. Where medical evidence is required it will take some time. To get the carer's allowance one must show that the person for whom one is caring is in need of full-time care which involves a medical certificate. It quite often happens that an application is made with insufficient information on means or household income and that can give...

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: That there is an appeals mechanism in place is very important.

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The ones the Deputy mentioned involved medical certification.

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The disability, illness and carer's allowances do. The problem with the jobseeker's allowance is that the means testing can take time.

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The point of an appeal is that it allows people the opportunity to give further information or medical evidence or go to oral hearing.

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: A total of 59% of appeals last year went to oral hearing. People got the opportunity to come in and make their cases, whatever the information was. I accept that the appeals system works and I know the Deputy is asking why the application does not work in the first instance but there can be a wide range of reasons it does not work.

Social Welfare Code. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: We are examining some of the areas where there is a high success rate on appeals to find the cause.

Pension Provisions. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Since the Green Paper on pensions was published in October 2007, the Government has been progressing policy in this area. We have also responded to meet the immediate difficulties facing employees, especially those in defined benefit schemes, who saw both their companies and pension schemes facing difficult situations. The collapse in equity values and the economic situation combined to...

Pension Provisions. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I am aware that I indicated that it might be sooner than now but the Government has decided to give it further consideration and that is its prerogative. However, the paper circulated to the social partners this week indicated that it would be done this year. As I outlined, we have genuinely been working very hard on a number of issues that are most relevant to people today and the fact...

Pension Provisions. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I certainly do not mean during the summer but as soon as possible thereafter when we get agreement from the Government. It is crucial and it will impact on private pensions, social welfare pensions and public sector pensions-----

Pension Provisions. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: As I indicated previously, a good lead-in time to the implementation time is required and I hope this will not have been affected by the fact that it has not been published.

Pension Provisions. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I think that 2012 is a reasonable timescale which would allow people to prepare for it and to have the legislation and structures in place to allow it.

Tax and Social Welfare Codes. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The PRSI system is based on the contributory and solidarity principles. The contributory principle ensures there is a direct link between the contributions paid and the range of benefits and pensions to which the person is entitled. The solidarity principle relates to the redistributive nature of the system which ensures supports are provided to more vulnerable workers. Current estimates...

Tax and Social Welfare Codes. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: As I indicated, €103.5 million will be raised through the change in the ceiling this year. Abolition of the ceiling would have to be seen in the context of all other financial measures introduced in the most recent budget including the income levy. The main aim of that budget with regard to income was to ensure that money was made available to the Exchequer. Any funding through PRSI...

Tax and Social Welfare Codes. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I am not aware of this specific issue and I will check it out.

Tax and Social Welfare Codes. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: As I stated, I will check it out.

Tax and Social Welfare Codes. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The important issue is that it will not have any implications for workers or anyone benefiting from claims made under the social insurance fund. When a deficit arises in the fund, as it inevitably will, the fund will be subvented by the Exchequer. Sufficient money will, therefore, be available to make pension and other payments which are currently paid from the fund. This year, the...

Social Welfare Benefits. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 10, 13, 16, 27 and 32 together. The live register has increased from 207,100 in May 2008 to 396,871 at the end of May 2009, an unprecedented increase of more than 96%. I assure the House that staff in the Department are working extremely hard to process claims as expeditiously as is possible, having regard to the conditions of the schemes. The average...

Social Welfare Benefits. (25 Jun 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The target for jobseeker's benefit is to process 90% of claims within three weeks. In May, 60% of claims were processed in that timeframe. The Deputy will note from the tables that processing times in many offices are significantly shorter than three weeks. In some cases, the average processing time is two weeks, one week or only a few days. The major problem is not in this area. The...