Results 19,721-19,740 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Other Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I have never given a figure and I cannot because it is not yet agreed. The budget will be announced next-----

Other Questions: Household Benefits Scheme (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: It will be announced next Tuesday by the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputies Donohoe and Noonan. Fine Gael committed to a €5 per week increase in the pension and, as part of our confidence and supply arrangement with Fianna Fail, provision will be made for an increase in the pension. No decision has been made on the exact amount. What I have said today...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Supports relating to housing are a key priority for this Government, as evidenced by the early implementation of our commitment to introduce increased rent limits under the rent supplement and housing assistance payment, HAP, schemes. The increased limits were introduced from 1 July 2016. The rent supplement scheme assists 50,700 tenants at a cost of €267 million this year. The...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As has been the case for quite some time, if people cannot find a place, they may apply for a top-up to the rent supplement. Until July, when the rent supplement was increased, that was happening on an almost daily basis and 10,000 people were in receipt of top-ups. The number requesting top-ups has since fallen dramatically, indicating that the real problem is a lack of supply. That is...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Actually, I am not sure that it would. I was quite sceptical as to whether increasing the rent supplement limits would make a difference. However, we said that if we were going to do it, we would do it properly and that is why the increases were so big. They averaged 15% but were 30% in some places and even more than that for some categories of family. In many cases, the limits are at or...

Other Questions: Fuel Poverty (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The risk of fuel poverty is influenced by a combination of fuel prices, weather, income and the heat efficiency of housing. My Department will continue to ensure those on low incomes and those who are more vulnerable to energy poverty are supported through the fuel allowance and the household benefits package. The fuel allowance is a payment of €22.50 per week for 26 weeks from...

Other Questions: Fuel Poverty (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Unfortunately, the budget is not agreed yet so I cannot tell the Deputy whether there will be something in it on the fuel allowance. It is worth pointing out that, in the budget for this year, the fuel allowance was increased from €20 to €22.50 per week, an increase of more than 10%. Exceptional needs payments can be paid in special circumstances. It is also worth pointing...

Other Questions: Fuel Poverty (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy's point is well made. Even aside from the fact that the fuel allowance can help ease fuel poverty, it is a very good payment in the sense that it is means tested and very targeted. I am not sure, however, that I will be able to match all of Deputy O'Dea's expectations in this particular budget, but if he keeps me here for long enough, we will get there.

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: 3 o’clock The social insurance system recognises the contribution of the recipients of carer's allowance through the system of credited contributions and also through the homemaker's scheme. Credited contributions or credits are awarded to recipients of carer's allowance who have an underlying entitlement to credits. Recipients of this payment qualify for credits if they have...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I think the Deputy is asking whether it is possible for someone who has been a carer to receive a non-means-tested benefit for a period after he or she finishes caring, as if he or she had been paying PRSI.

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: He is referring to jobseeker's benefit or a similar benefit.

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: At present, when the person for whom a carer has been caring dies, the carer continues to receive carer's allowance for 12 weeks. It is a different way of doing the same thing. This does not happen if the person for whom the carer is caring goes into long-term care, however. In such circumstances, the allowance is stopped and the carer does not get the allowance for three months while he...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I would like to explain a couple of aspects of this matter. When cash contributions come in through the PRSI system, the social insurance fund pays for non-means-tested benefits like the contributory pension and jobseeker's benefit. In order to have a benefit at one end, one has to be paying in at the other end. The only fair and just way to do what the Deputy is suggesting, while ensuring...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, but if that were done-----

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: -----they would be the only workers who are not paying PRSI while their employers pay PRSI for them.

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Of course, the State is not the employer of carers. It would be a very expensive and complicated way of doing something that can be done much more simply by allowing people to continue to get carer's allowance for a few months after they finish caring.

Other Questions: Labour Activation Measures (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I acknowledge the time and effort spent by Dr. Millar and her team in completing this study. My Department values the contribution social policy research makes in assisting the Department by informing policy across its broad remit. The report does not purport to be an analysis of the lone parent reforms. Based on the study’s terms of reference, my Department expected that it...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced in 2009 and were further extended in subsequent budgets and apply to jobseekers under 26 years of age. These measures were introduced as they were considered to protect young people from welfare dependency by providing young jobseekers with a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Payments (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 19 and 26 together. The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) is a scheme that allows persons in receipt of certain social welfare payments the opportunity to pursue a course of study, while still maintaining their income support. Entitlement to the BTEA is conditional on having an on-going entitlement to the qualifying scheme payment. Changes have been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 34 and 48 together. The rent supplement scheme is supporting some 50,700 tenants at a cost of €267 million in 2016. The rent limits under this scheme were increased effective from 1 July 2016. The review process undertaken represented a realignment of the maximum rent limits with agreed rents, with rents generally benchmarked against the 35th...