Results 21,281-21,300 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Artists' Remuneration (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The 2016 Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseekers’ schemes of €2.8 billion. It is accepted that periods of unemployment are a normal feature of the acting and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Benefit (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: One of the conditions of entitlement to Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) is that the person concerned must be available for and genuinely seeking work. Time spent in full-time education or training of a short or long-term nature therefore does not meet this condition. The person concerned has notified his local Intreo office of the start and end dates of the course so his JB payment will be...

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

Leo Varadkar: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the current average processing time for carer’s allowance appeals determined following an oral hearing is 22.4 weeks and 18.2 weeks for carer’s allowance appeals determined summarily. Where claimants have been refused a payment and are appealing the decision, if their means are insufficient to meet their needs pending...

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 24 November 2015. It is a condition for receipt of a CA that the person being cared for must have a disability whose effect is that they require full-time care and attention. This is defined as requiring from another person, continual supervision and frequent assistance...

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

Leo Varadkar: There are no payments made by the Department of Social Protection towards the cost of caring for a dog. I hope the answer assures the Deputy and that it clarifies it for him.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: According to the United Kingdom’s Department for Work and Pensions, there were 135,070 recipients of UK state pension residing in Ireland at the end of November 2015. The following table shows the number of persons resident in the United Kingdom, who are currently in receipt of Irish state pension (contributory) or Widow(er)’s and surviving civil partner’s...

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

Leo Varadkar: The community services programme (CSP) provides financial support to community companies that provide revenue generating services of a social inclusion nature. Many of these companies are also funded from other sources and generate revenue from the public use of their facilities and services. The contribution from the CSP is towards the wage costs of the companies and is on the basis that...

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 23 March 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: Redundancy Payments (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Details of the Redundancy Payments Scheme for the period 2011 – 2015 were provided to the Deputy in reply to Question No. 293, Ref No: 18418/16 on 28 June, 2016. The following is a table with details of claims processed and expenditure for 2016 to date included (January to May). Redundancy Payments Scheme Claims and Expenditure 2011 – 2015 Year Claims processed Expenditure...

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 Fraud Investigations (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The person concerned requested an investigation into her PRSI record in a letter dated 24 July 2014. The matter was referred to a Social Welfare Inspector for investigation on 1 August 2014. The Inspector submitted his report on 11 September 2014 and, as outlined in the answer to PQ 17904-16, he found no discrepancies. He also confirmed that, as the person concerned was on Illness Benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Long-Term Illness Scheme Eligibility (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability (see below). Entitlement to these supports is not contingent on the nature of the illness but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work. In all cases a deciding officer of my Department makes a decision...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Training Support Grant (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Training Support Grant Scheme (TSG) is designed to fund quick access to short term training or related interventions for individual jobseekers who have identified work opportunities. In addition Case Officers who have identified an immediate skills gap that represents an obstacle to taking up a job offer, or accessing other activation interventions may also engage the use of this scheme...

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...