Results 20,601-20,620 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: It is obviously open to people to apply for the jobseeker's transition payment or FIS and my view is they should apply for whichever of those two payments gives them the most at the end of the week. If people do that, then that is their choice. It should be borne in mind that some people who may be working and in receipt of FIS and who then return to education apply for the jobseeker's...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Obviously, the rules relating to eligibility for the SUSI grant are a matter for the Minister for Education and Skills and his Department. That Department, with our assistance, has commissioned research examining the barriers to education for lone parents. The matter is being considered in the context of next week's budget in terms of what we can do to assist lone parents. That will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The CSO's most recent monthly unemployment figures released this week show that youth unemployment had fallen to 15.9% in September. This is a significant decrease of five percentage points, from 20.9%, in the past 12 months. Therefore, in just the past year youth unemployment has fallen from over 20% to 15.9%. The overall unemployment rate fell by 1.2 percentage points in the same period,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: If the Deputy is going to quote me, he may wish to quote me in full. Our attitude is very different. The Deputy is interested in welfare rates for young people. I am interested in getting young people into work. Youth unemployment has fallen by 23% in the past year; it has decreased from over 20% to 15.9%, which means that youth unemployment is falling substantially faster than general...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The aim of the reforms to the one-parent family payment is to better engage with lone parents to assist in the transition from welfare into employment. Research shows that being at work reduces the at-risk-of-poverty rate for lone parents by three quarters, highlighting that the best way to tackle poverty among lone parents is to assist them into employment rather than through welfare. ...

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...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The State pension contributory is one of a number of pensions the State pays to people over 66. The rate of payment to a person is related to the number of contributions made over the years into the Social Insurance Fund by the person. Entitlement levels are calculated by means of a ‘yearly average’ calculation, where the total contributions paid or credited are divided by the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Waiting Times (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average waiting time for new carer's allowance (CA) applications at the end of August was 17 weeks. At the end of August, there were 4,834 CA applications awaiting decision. The volume...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Payments (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Family Law Acts, which are under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality (D/JE), place a legal obligation on parents to maintain their children. In cases where the family unit has broken down these obligations continue to apply and relevant maintenance payments can be arranged either directly between the couple or through supports like the Family Mediation Service, the Legal...

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

Leo Varadkar: 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, subject to satisfying a number of conditions. The conditions include progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Agencies (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The company in question – Seetec Limited – has been contracted by my Department to provide an employment service to long-term unemployed jobseekers so as to assist them to secure and sustain full-time paid employment. The service is known as JobPath. JobPath was designed having regard to international experience of contracted employment services. Participants spend 12 months...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Rural Social Scheme (RSS) provides income support for farmers and fishermen who have an entitlement to specified social welfare payments. Eligibility for the scheme is on the basis that the participant is underemployed in their primary activity, either farming or fishing, and that their earnings are insufficient to support their family circumstances. The scheme currently provides work...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The earnings assessed for social assistance means testing purposes generally is based on earnings net of PRSI contributions, superannuation/PRSA contributions and trade union subscriptions. No account is taken in the calculation of any income tax/USC payable on earnings. The purpose of the current means-testing arrangements is to ensure that the maximum amount of payments go to the people...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Websites (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: JobsIreland.ieis a free online jobs site that enables employers to post job opportunities and jobseekers to search and apply for these opportunities online. Over 5,000 job vacancies are currently advertised on the site. Jobs Ireland was first developed 20 years ago and was showing its age in comparison to job sites operated by other public employment services in recent years. For example,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Payments (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. FIS is designed to tackle child and family poverty and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment as compared to social welfare payments. There are over 55,000 families with almost 123,000 children in receipt of FIS. The estimated spend on FIS this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Anti-Poverty Strategy (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Under this Scheme my Department supports small-scale research projects, or week long academic summer schools, under a programme of research innovation awards known as the Department of Social Protection Research Innovation Awards (DSPRIA). Awards under this programme are confined to academics and researchers in third level institutions, with applications for awards assessed by an...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The National Pensions Framework (NPF) was published in March 2010. It stated that “In order to maintain this aim of preventing poverty for older people, the Government will seek to sustain the value of the State Pension at 35% of average weekly earnings and will support this through the PRSI contribution system.” The aspirational tone of this commitment recognised that a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (6 Oct 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 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 UK...