Results 17,901-17,920 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: This is a demand-led scheme. I can assure the Deputy that the people who qualify and submit their applications will get the funding. There is no doubt about that. With regard to the numbers who have claimed this year, it is some 22,000 people already. We would expect that to double. Last year in 2021 it was 51,395 applications. Up to the end of May this year 27,488 claims were awarded....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The people who qualify for this payment are the applicants who have received maternity benefit, adoptive benefit, or paternity benefit for their child. They will automatically satisfy the PRSI contribution requirements to receive parent's benefit. A person must be paying PRSI to qualify. The payment is €250 per week. The question was asked whether single parents can get this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Government is acutely aware of recent price increases and their impact on low-income households and those who are dependent on social welfare. For this reason, the Government did not await a further budget cycle to address these challenges but acted early. Overall, the tax and spending measures we have introduced to ease the burden and provide support to those most in need have amounted...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I am very aware of the importance of people having access to the community welfare officers. That is why we have had a very comprehensive media advertising campaign to make people aware that this payment is available. I have run radio and social media advertisements. I am sure the Deputy has heard them. We want to raise awareness and get the message out through our constituency offices....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: We have community welfare offices in the 51 Intreo centres throughout the country. They talk to the people over the phone. They can meet them in the local branch office. They can even arrange to meet people in their own homes by appointment if that is what people need. We are also considering setting up a system where people can apply directly for additional needs payment online. As the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Welfare Services (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this question. The delivery of crucial community welfare services to meet the challenges and the needs of citizens across the country remains a priority for me and my Department. It is important that the community welfare service, CWS, remains accessible, flexible and responsive to meet the varied needs of vulnerable people, particularly in a time of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Welfare Services (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The community welfare officers across the country are a great resource to the Department of the Social Protection. In my experience, I have always found them to be exceptionally helpful. They have always gone beyond the call of duty in trying to help people who need support at particular times in their lives. As Deputy Doherty is aware, we started a very active media campaign to make...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Welfare Services (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The additional needs payment is not a new scheme and it comes under the remit of the general supplementary welfare allowance scheme operational guidelines. A briefing note with information on the additional needs payment has issued to all staff in the Department, setting out the role of community welfare officers in assisting customers with cost-of-living expenses. It directs community...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has carried out extensive work on the policies surrounding means-tested schemes over the past year and I have also made commitments in regard to further reviews. Means tests are kept under regular review and a number of significant changes have been made in recent years. In particular, I have introduced a number of changes to means testing that provide for higher income...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: As I said, the Deputy and I have discussed these issues. He raised an example of somebody on the disability allowance whose elderly parents have been living frugally in order that they can leave an asset behind, when they pass on, to their disabled child. They may then find that the asset, or their savings as the case may be, has an impact. I take the Deputy's point and, as I said, I have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I reiterate the Department has carried out numerous reviews of policies surrounding means-tested schemes over the past year and the Deputy has given me a list of suggestions. In line with a commitment in the programme for Government and the rural development policy, a review of the means assessment disregards for the farm assist has been completed and a key recommendation from the review was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Policy responsibility for adult safeguarding falls under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Health.  Officials in my Department’s Safeguarding Unit liaise with the HSE’s Safeguarding Protection Team as necessary where concerns arise of financial abuse for social welfare customers or concerns about the their being taken advantage of financially.  My...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Registration of Deaths (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The obligation to register a death rests primarily with a family member of the deceased.  Deaths are currently required to be registered within three months of the day of death.   The General Register Office (GRO), which operates under the aegis of my Department, has initiated discussions across Government on modernising the way that deaths are registered.  This...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Indecon report found that there is not a single typical ‘cost of disability’, rather there is a spectrum from low additional costs to extremely high extra costs of disability, depending on the individual circumstances of the person concerned.    The additional costs of disability identified by Indecon run across a number of areas of expenditure...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Welfare Service delivers the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is the safety net within the overall social welfare system.  This scheme helps eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents.   Customers do not have to meet in person with an Officer to make a claim.  The application...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (14 Jul 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. It is clear from the Commission’s work that State Pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Ukraine War (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In accordance with the Temporary Protection Directive implemented in March, people fleeing the war in Ukraine have been granted the status to avail of the supports and services, including income supports and employment services, provided by my Department.  This means that they can work in Ireland and access social services and the full range of social welfare supports. As of 11th...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Treatment Benefit is a PRSI-based scheme which provides free dental and optical services, and assistance towards the provision of audiological appliances and hair replacement products, to people who satisfy certain qualifying conditions, and to their dependent spouses/partners. The following are the entitlements under each of the schemes. Dental Benefit The department pays the full cost...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Applicants for social assistance payments are means-tested.  A means test is a way of checking if a claimant has enough financial resources to support themselves and determine what amount of social assistance payment, if any, they may qualify for. A maximum rate is payable where a person has limited or no means, and tapering applies to the rate payable to those with modest or more...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (14 Jul 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 135 together. The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme is the safety net within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents.  Supports provided under the SWA scheme can consist of a basic weekly payment, a...