Results 17,981-18,000 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

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

Heather Humphreys: The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn.  The scheme operates from June to September each year. The allowance is payable in respect of eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a qualified child...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Dental Services (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 Dental Benefit Scheme is a popular scheme with 893,000 claims paid by the Department in 2021 at a cost of...

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

Heather Humphreys: Income supports for family carers provided by my Department include Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, the Carer's Support Grant and Domiciliary Care Allowance.  Spending on these supports in 2022 is expected to be over €1.5 billion. Carer’s Allowance is the primary scheme through which my Department supports carers in the community.  Carer’s Allowance is a...

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

Heather Humphreys: My Department has, since 2019, been developing a new model of externally provided public employment services.  This is a legal requirement to ensure such services are procured through a competitive open procurement process. Since the beginning of this process in 2019, my Department has engaged extensively with existing providers and representative bodies, including the Irish...

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

Heather Humphreys: In line with the Programme for Government commitment, the Government established a Child Maintenance Review Group to examine certain issues in relation to child maintenance in Ireland.  The Group was chaired by former Circuit Court Judge Catherine Murphy and included legal, policy and academic professionals as well as officials from my Department and the Department of Justice. The...

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. In the interests both of older people and future generations of...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn.  The scheme operates from June to September.    The allowance is payable for eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a qualified...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (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, this 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...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Irish labour market has experienced a robust recovery, post-Covid. According to the latest CSO estimates, employment is now above 2.5 million, the highest level in the history of the State; the unemployment rate is now below its pre-pandemic level at 4.7 percent. Furthermore, participation rates in the economy continue to be above where they stood pre-pandemic. My Department, which...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 introduced two weeks of paid Parent's Leave for each parent to be taken in the first year after the birth or adoptive placement of a child. Following the commencement of the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021, an additional three weeks of paid Parent's Leave is available to each parent, and the period in which the leave can be...

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

Heather Humphreys: I received the Pre-Budget Submission from the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands, which was produced on foot of a significant  consultation and engagement with interested stakeholders. I was very grateful for the time and effort taken by the Deputy and the Committee in producing this report and in...

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

Heather Humphreys: Social welfare legislation provides that, for social assistance schemes, income and capital (such as savings, investments and property other than the family home) belonging to the claimant and his or her partner, where applicable, is assessable for means assessment purposes.  The purpose of the means assessment is to maintain the policy of ensuring that social welfare expenditure is...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Irish labour market has experienced a robust recovery, post-Covid. According to the latest estimates from the CSO’s Labour Force Survey (Q1, 2022), the number of people in employment is now above 2.5 million, the highest level in the history of the State, while participation rates in the economy continue to be above where they stood pre-pandemic, driven primarily by the...

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 including: housing,...

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

Heather Humphreys: My Department is engaged in a process, since 2019, of reviewing and expanding public employment services across the State.  It has had well in excess of over 140 engagements with the community sector during this process.  My officials have also engaged with and met the trade unions SIPTU and Forsa to hear their concerns regarding the interests of their members who are employed in...

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

Heather Humphreys: My Department engaged with the Institute of Employment Studies and Social Finance in 2019 to research and develop best practice models for new employment services.  These bodies have established track-records of helping governments develop fit-for-purpose employment services.  My Department engaged with these consultants, ensuring their models were appropriately configured for the...

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

Heather Humphreys: In 2018 Indecon, on behalf of the Department, undertook two detailed reviews into the Local Employment Service (LES) and Job Clubs.  These reviews made a series of recommendations on the design and operation of contracted public employment services. In 2019 my Department commissioned an independent review of the provision of employment advisory services, including JobPath, Local...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Department of Social Protection is committed to delivering an excellent customer service as pledged in its Customer Service Charter. My Department always aims to ensure that all customers are served in a fair, courteous, and timely manner, provided with full and clear information regarding entitlements and have their privacy respected.  The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly tax-free payment for employees with children which supports people in low paid employment.  The WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependents, and to offer a financial incentive to take up  and stay in employment. It is a targeted measure that is directly linked to household income and therefore...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022.  The purpose of this payment is to assist qualifying households with their energy costs.  The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household.  There have been a...