Results 19,401-19,420 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: It could replace FIS. Work on the issue carried out by the previous Government produced four or five options, including replacing FIS, retaining it and closing it off to new entrants. It is fair to say that the reason this was not progressed is because there would have been losers as well as winners. The nature of politics is such that the winners will be happy and the losers will be the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: If we were to have a working family payment that genuinely reduced child poverty and incentivised work over welfare there would have to be no losers and that would be expensive, but not prohibitive. That is the type of initiative we will be seeking to come up with in the early part of next year. As I said, long-term employment is down to 4.4%. The target is to reduce that figure to below...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: What was the question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Chairman is asking me how much I believe the live register will fall next year, but we have not addressed that yet. We will need information from the Department of Finance and we would, of course, have to agree on the figure with that Department. The live register has been falling by approximately 40,000 per year and unemployment has halved but, as we get down to a smaller level, it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: It is a fair question. As I said, with the rising number of old people it will cost an extra €200 million next year just to stand still. I did not say what savings could offset that. The live register could be one such area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Disability and carer's allowances are also rising at a faster rate than we had projected. We will give the committee what we can. I take the Chairman's point. It is well recognised that poverty rates are higher among those living alone. The gap is not as big as I thought it was, but there is one, arising from the additional costs of running a house. An increase in the living alone...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My apologies for not answering Deputy Brady's question. We will have proposals for a replacement scheme for JobBridge in the next few weeks, in October if not in September. I do not want to pre-empt decisions that have not yet been made, and the budgetary impact has to be worked out in the context of the budget. We are moving towards capping the number of work experience placements and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: If we proceed with it, I will be delighted to give him full credit for it but we would need to know what it is going to cost. These things may cost more than one thinks and we would also need to know if there would be losers as well as winners. That said, if he has a proposal, we would like to see it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and other parties will be producing fully-costed budget proposals-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: -----so we will be able to see what choices they would make. I know the Deputy has done that in the past and I am sure he will do it in the next few weeks. I look forward to seeing his proposal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: That is something that I would like to do and want to do. It would be a very useful exercise to do equality budgeting to determine the social impacts of the budget. Unfortunately, because so many budget decisions are made so late in the day, it is hard to do that analysis. It is a flaw in the budget process that so many decisions are made so late that we only find out about their impact...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Tax Code (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Currently, employers pay PRSI at the rate of 8.5% where weekly earnings are between €38 and €376. Once weekly earnings exceed €376, the rate of employer PRSI is 10.75%. The upper threshold for the 8.5% rate of employer PRSI was increased from €356 to €376 from 1 January 2016, to take account of the increase in the minimum hourly wage. This measure...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 665, 670 and 671 together. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to schools and organisations benefitting over 200,000 children at a total cost of €42 million in 2016. The objective of the scheme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 666, 669, 675 and 809 together. Supports in relation to housing and the provision of financial supports, including the rent supplement scheme, which is currently supporting some 51,800 recipients at a cost of €267 million in 2016, are a key priority for Government. A county breakdown of rent supplement recipients is provided in the attached tabular...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 667, 776, 820 and 821 together. The Programme for Government commits to increase the rate of the State Pension above the rate of inflation. The appropriate level of social welfare supports will be considered by Government in a budgetary context in the coming weeks, with due regard to available resources. A €5 increase in the weekly rates of payment to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Rights (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 668 and 798 together. I have been in contact with the director of the company concerned who has confirmed that all redundancy payments, outstanding holiday pay and minimum notice payments due to the former employees of the company were paid on 14 September 2016. Therefore, there will be no claim on the social insurance fund for these payments. I hope this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 672 and 673 together. The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) is designed primarily to support second chance education. It is an educational opportunities scheme for persons in receipt of certain qualifying social welfare payments wishing to pursue second or third level courses of education in order to improve their employment prospects. Entitlement...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I have been in contact with the director of the company concerned who has confirmed that all redundancy payments, outstanding holiday pay and minimum notice payments due to the former employees of the company were paid on 14 September 2016. Therefore, there will be no claim on the social insurance fund for these payments. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Support Grant (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Carer’s Support Grant (formerly called the Respite Care Grant) is an annual payment for carers who look after certain people in need of full-time care and attention. An application by the person concerned for the Carer’s Support Grant was refused on 6 September 2016 by one of my Department’s Deciding Officers. The Deciding Officer was not satisfied the care being...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Legislation (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The ‘marriage bar’ describes a rule that existed in most of the public service and some private sector employments, where women were required to leave their employment upon marriage. This practice was abolished in 1973 when Ireland joined the EEC. As employees in the public service generally paid a reduced rate of PRSI, which provided no cover for the State pension...