Results 1-20 of 14,159 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I agree with the Deputy entirely. We want this scheme to work. We will do the final roll-out in September so that every primary school pupil in the country will have had the opportunity to have hot school meals within their school. At that time I intend to stand back and examine at the scheme to see where it has been working and where it has not. I will be very focused on DEIS secondary...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I totally agree with the Deputy that a five-year-old should not receive the same portion as a 13-year-old and we get that feedback a lot. I suspect there are Members who have seen food come home with schoolbags and probably found it a few days later. Every school has the flexibility, within procurement rules, to choose the provider of the food. There is not some massive corporate...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The review will absolutely capture all of that. It is very important. There are a lot of local companies involved in this that otherwise would not be providing quality employment and service without this programme.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: As I said in reply to Deputy O'Reilly, the hot school meals review was announced when we expanded programme just ahead of the Easter school holidays. With regard to nutrition, the specific standard was set under the nutritional standards for school meals and nutritional standards for hot school meals. A technical nutrition subgroup comprised of dietitians from the Irish Nutrition and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I agree with the Deputy. In our preparation for responding to his question, I have asked that we do more work in terms of reaching out to people who may qualify but who may not know. Those figures strike me as low. The Department has been doing a lot of work in this space in terms of trying to bring the scheme to people's attention. Maybe with the support of colleagues across the House,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rural Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputies Cahill and Conway-Walsh for their remarks. Regarding the review, we have fully implemented five recommendations. Actually, I had a meeting yesterday with officials on the remaining ones, including extending eligibility to people not directly engaged in farming or fishing but who have a connection to a rural community and the issue of two people accessing it. I have asked...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rural Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Cahill for his question. As he said, the rural social scheme plays an important role in the life of rural communities. I wish to highlight and thank every participant, supervisor and sponsoring company for their work in this space. The RSS provides an income support and part-time employment opportunities for farmers and fishers who are in receipt of certain social welfare...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I endorse the Deputy's comments, particularly regarding rural poverty. I will keep a laser-like focus on it during my time in the Department. I commend the work done by organisations such as Local Link, which is expanding its footprint to address the exact kind of loneliness the Deputy has just referred to. The living alone allowance, or the living alone increase as it is formerly...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I agree with Deputy Burke and we will try to do that. Not just during Covid, but during Storm Éowyn we saw the real value of local groups, hubs and services. With my other hat of rural and community development, I am working within the Department on supporting those local hubs and services. The timing of hospital appointments frustrates me. Even if a person was able to use public...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: We have had this discussion a few times today and the Government acknowledges the important role that carers are playing and we will continue to support them in that role. The enhanced State pension provision for people who have been caring for an incapacitated dependant for 20 years or more was introduced on 1 January 2024. If a person had more than 20 years of caring for an incapacitated...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Absolutely. As I said to Deputy O'Connor earlier, we want to ensure that the social protection system is work-friendly and the welfare traps which inhibit people from taking up work are removed. I highlighted earlier that if a person on jobseeker's payment receives an offer of part-time work, he or she can end up worse off financially if his or her hours are spread over the whole working...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. Since the Government was elected, we have prioritised the Cabinet committee on disability, which is chaired by the Taoiseach and meets monthly. It is addressing a range of issues, including income, but also services and supports. We had a discussion with Deputy John Connolly earlier about the wage subsidy scheme to assist employers and encourage them to employ people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Absolutely. We had a discussion on a previous question, asked by Deputy James O'Connor, about the introduction of the commitment in the programme for Government to introducing a working age payment. That is important to ensure that people who transition from a welfare support payment to work are not worse off. I will be focused on that. As I said, we will publish a number of potential...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an cheist. The Indecon report on the cost of disability, commissioned and funded by my Department, found that the extra costs of disability are due to a number of factors, including higher costs of healthcare, transport, education, housing and other services that arise because of a higher level of dependence on these services by people with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for his question. As he knows and referred to, the programme for Government has committed to protect core welfare rates while ensuring that available resources are targeted at vulnerable groups. The programme for Government includes a commitment to examine key ancillary benefits such as the fuel allowance, household benefits package and living alone allowance to support...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I assure the Deputy that we absolutely value the work of carers. That has been shown by the work done on the income disregards, which will take effect this July, in recent years and the introduction of the long-term carer's contribution scheme in January 2024. Under that scheme, a person who has been a full-time carer for an incapacitated dependent for at least 20 years, or 1,040 weeks, can...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The report on----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: On carers?