Results 18,241-18,260 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (21 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. An application for pandemic unemployment payment by the person concerned was disallowed by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 9 April 2021. I am informed by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (21 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: 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 an accessible, flexible, and responsive service to meet the varied needs of vulnerable people, particularly in a time of crisis or emergency. The Department has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (21 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: An application for state pension non-contributory was received from the person concerned on 26 April 2022. On 11 May 2022, the case was referred to a Social Welfare Inspector to investigate the means of the person concerned so that their eligibility for the means-tested pension could be assessed. The Social Welfare Inspector wrote to the person concerned on 7 June 2022 seeking details of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (21 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) is a weekly payment of €2.50. Approximately 138,000 customers are in receipt of the TSA payment. The full year cost of the scheme is estimated at €18.1 million. The primary objective of the TSA is to allow the most vulnerable people at risk of isolation, including the elderly and those with disabilities, access to personal alarms or...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (21 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, regulations transposing requirements of the IORP II Directive came into effect in April of last year which set out minimum standards for the management and supervision of pension schemes, with the objective of ensuring the soundness of occupational pensions and better protections for scheme members and beneficiaries. The implementation of IORP II is expected to...

Pensions (Amendment) (Transparency in Charges) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I am happy to accept the further amendment tabled by my Labour Party colleagues-----

Pensions (Amendment) (Transparency in Charges) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I am sorry; the Deputy is first.

Pensions (Amendment) (Transparency in Charges) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: "Dáil Éireann resolves that the Pensions (Amendment) (Transparency in Charges) Bill 2021 be deemed to be read a second time this day nine months, to allow for, amongst other things, an examination and assessment of the issues pertaining to the provision of information to pension scheme members...

Pensions (Amendment) (Transparency in Charges) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I have listened to the contributions of Deputies Nash and Kerrane. I again thank Deputy Nash for giving the House the opportunity to debate this important issue. I know it is an issue in which the Deputy has a keen interest. I will reiterate some of the points I made earlier. We all know that improved pension cost transparency and better outcomes for pension savers are always...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: 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. Under the SWA scheme, the Department can make Additional Needs Payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Sep 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, which is supporting over 370,000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The free travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private transport operators. There are approximately 1,043,000...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned nominated a new post office to collect their payment. Payments due from 15 July 2022 issued to the new post office. The payments due to the person concerned on 01 July 2022 and 08 July 2022 remained uncollected in their former post office. These payments have re-issued to their new post office and are available for collection from 23 September 2022. The person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Gender Recognition (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Section 14 of the Gender Recognition Act 2015 provides that the Minister for Social Protection may revoke a gender recognition certificate. The Act requires the Minister to be satisfied that information or facts relating to the applicant and/or application under s.8 and s.9 of that Act would have resulted in a decision to not issue a certificate being made at the time of determining an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Social welfare legislation provides that the Personal Representative of a deceased person who, at any time, received a means-tested payment, is obliged to give notice to my Department of their intention to distribute the deceased's estate, to provide a schedule of the assets of the estate and is requested not to distribute the estate until they receive formal clearance from my Department....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Sep 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, which is supporting over 370,000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (22 Sep 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, which is supporting over 370,000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department does not provide the information requested by the Deputy. Instead, the number of individuals in the entire county Dublin that received at least one payment in various social welfare schemes in Q2 2022 is shown in Table 1 below. Table 1: The number of recipients of social welfare payments in Dublin in Q2 2022. Scheme Recipients Back to Work...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In May 2022, I announced a series of measures designed to remove barriers facing social welfare customers who choose to accommodate people in their homes. The Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) (Amendment) (No. 10) (Income Disregard) Regulations 2022 (S.I. No. 397 of 2022), and the Social Welfare (Consolidated Supplementary Welfare Allowance) (Amendment) (No. 3)...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (22 Sep 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Household Benefits Package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €273 million this year on HHB for over 492,000 customers. People over the age of 70 receive the Household Benefits Package, with one package provided per household. The package is also available to people living in the State aged...