Results 19,041-19,060 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Community Employment (CE) is an employment programme with the aim of helping the long-term unemployed to re-enter the workforce by breaking their cycle of unemployment through a return to a regular work routine. CE also provides training and development to participants. The current eligibility criteria for the programme have been expanded over the years. The criteria have been set to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Places (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Community Employment (CE) is a labour market activation programme which helps long-term unemployed people (those 12-months or more in receipt of a jobseeker’s payment) and other disadvantaged groups to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. It is designed to be a temporary fixed-term activation intervention. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My Department operates a range of means-tested social assistance schemes, where account is taken of the income and the value of capital, including shares, of the claimant and his or her spouse/ partner. When assessing a claimant’s (or the claimant’s spouse/partner’s) income from earnings, social welfare legislation provides for various payments to be deducted from gross...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Services Programme (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Community Services Programme (CSP) supports community businesses to deliver local services to their communities and to create employment opportunities for people from disadvantaged groups. The Programme is managed on behalf of the Department by Pobal. The CSP is designed on a social enterprise model and a core requirement of the programme is that contract holders generate non-public...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Applications (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: A Family Income Supplement (FIS) application was received from the person concerned on the 24 June 2016. FIS has now been awarded commencing 28 April 2016 to 26 April 2017.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 308 and 320 together. These new rent limits reflect the fact that rents are rising and are back to their peak levels in some cases. Through a combination of increased rent limits, and the ongoing flexibility and discretionary increases provided by my Department’s Community Welfare Service staff, we will provide more stability for tenants and reduce...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Records (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The number of staff working in my Department’s Archives Unit in each of the years 2010 to 2016 is set out in the following table. Table of Staff in Archive Unit Department of Social Protection Year Number of staff 2010 1 2011 1 2012 1 2013 1 2014 1 2015 1 2016 1 Under Regulation 3(1), of theNational Archives Act, 1986,Regulations, 1988, the Secretary General of each Department...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Work Initiatives (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Tús, the community work placement initiative was set up to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year. This initiative is being delivered through the network of local development companies and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Tús is designed to break the cycle of unemployment and maintain work readiness thereby improving a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that my department received an application for carer’s allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 17 September 2015. CA is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has a disability such that they require that level of care. The person concerned was refused CA on the grounds that she was not...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that my department received an application for carer’s allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 4 May 2016. Unfortunately, there are currently delays in the processing of new applications.Additional resources have been provided to the CA section in order to improve the waiting times for new applications and they are working hard to make this happen. Frequently, delays...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Social Assistance payments act as a safety net for people who have insufficient income and who do not qualify for a contributory payment. The use of a means test is to ensure that scarce resources are directed to those in greatest need. Payments from the United Kingdom (UK) are assessed as income under current legislation. If the person applying for a Social Assistance payment has a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Credit Availability (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: A Personal Micro Credit Scheme providing for small scale loans by Credit Unions to borrowers who have difficulty accessing low cost credit has been piloted in 30 credit unions. The loans under the scheme range from €100 to a maximum of €2,000, and have a maximum interest rate of 12% per annum. Over 1,200 loans have been drawn down under the Scheme to date with an overall value...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Eligibility (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: There are two costings in relation to the cost of restoring means testing rules to pre-Budget 2012 levels under the Farm Assist Scheme: a) To reintroduce the 70% means assessment of farm income as per the situation pre-Budget 2012; b) To reintroduce the additional disregards for children as follows (pre-budget 2012 rate was €254 for 1st and 2nd child and €381 for subsequent...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme Expenditure (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The rural social scheme (RSS) provides income support for farmers and fishermen who have an entitlement to specified social welfare payments. One of the key criteria for participation and continued eligibility for the scheme is that the participant must be underemployed in their primary activity i.e. either farming or fishing, and that their earnings are insufficient to support their family...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Data (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My department received applications for the carer’s allowance scheme as follows: Year Received Allowed Disallowed 2015 18,929 14,378 9,808 2016* 9,130 6,030 4,005* End May 2016 At the end on May 2016 there were 6,398 pending applications.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Administration (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2016 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of €85 million on the farm assist...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Data (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The average time taken to process domiciliary care allowance (DCA) applications in 2015 was 13 weeks and over the first five months of 2016 (to 31 May) it was 12.5 weeks. The numbers of DCA applications that were received from 2013 to 31 May 2016 are detailed in the following table. Information on applications is not collated or held on a county basis, so it is not possible to provide the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: In the time available it has not been possible to produce the information being sought. This is currently being prepared and will be sent to the Deputy shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (6 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I understand that my Department has sought clarification from the Deputy on her specific information requirement and this is awaited. To date, deductions from social welfare payments to enable payment of Local Property Tax have been made at the request of the customer and no mandatory deductions have been imposed. It is also important to note that even where the deductions are taken at the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Appointments to State Boards (6 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The legislative provisions governing Board membership of the Citizens Information Board (CIB) are contained in the Comhairle Act 2000, the Citizens Information Act 2007 and the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011. The legislation provides that the Board may have up to 15 members. I have recently appointed 7 members to the Board of CIB, bringing the membership to 14. These appointments...