Results 21,421-21,440 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The current budgetary position necessitated the changes made to social welfare benefits, including the dental treatment benefit scheme, in Budget 2010. From January 2010 the treatments available have been limited to a free dental examination. Current trends in 2010 indicate that around 280,000 people will receive the free dental examination. These have been retained in order to encourage...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: To be eligible for disability allowance, a claimant must (inter alia) satisfy a medical examination, a means test and be habitually resident in the state. The processing time for individual disability allowance claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main criteria listed above. Certain claims have to be referred to social welfare inspectors for...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The number of interviews or consultations that a jobseeker will attend over the course of his or her claim will vary from person to person. Customers claiming jobseeker's allowance may have to be interviewed by an inspector at the beginning of their claim and at any subsequent review of their means. Once a customer is three months on the Live Register, he or she will be selected for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There are approximately 17,800 persons currently in receipt of mortgage interest supplement (MIS). This represents a 120% increase since the end of 2008 when there were 8,100 recipients. The Department's review of the administrative, policy and legal aspects of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was published in July 2010 in conjunction with the interim report of the Mortgage Arrears...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The European Parliament proposal to extend maternity leave to 20 weeks and to introduce paternity leave of 2 weeks, both at full pay, will be discussed by the Council of Ministers in December 2010. In this regard, the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, who has primary responsibility in this area is liaising with my department. Ireland has been generally supportive of EU...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The most recent estimates indicate that raising the PRSI employee ceiling to €100,000 could result in an additional €52 million in contribution income in a full year.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: A key objective of my Department's control strategy is to ensure that the right person is paid the right amount of money at the right time. The emphasis is to minimise risks of fraud and eliminate incorrect payments. A four-pronged control strategy has been adopted by my Department, namely prevention of fraud and error at the initial claim stage, early detection through effective review of...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 58, 64 and 260 together. Social welfare expenditure for 2011 will be considered in the context of the forthcoming Budget, having regard both to needs and to the resources available to meet those needs. In an uncertain economic environment, my priority will be to ensure that the Government strategy to stabilise the financial position is advanced and to...

Written Answers — Public Services Card: Public Services Card (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 228 together. The Department has developed, in conjunction with a number of other Government Departments, the specifications for a Public Services Card (PSC) under the Standard Authentication Framework Environment, or SAFE, programme. The specification provides for identification features, including a photograph. The aim is to develop a card that...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support, to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. In recent years, a significant number of people have come to rely on rent supplement for extended periods,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The One-Parent Family Payment, by its nature, is not payable where the lone parent is co-habiting with the other parent of the child or with someone else as husband and wife. The Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents", which was published in 2006, proposed that the category of lone parenthood would be abolished. Instead, a parental allowance would be made to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. The allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but only to provide assistance towards these costs. A person may qualify for payment of an allowance if they are in receipt of a...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Traditionally, social insurance spending has been funded on a tripartite basis – with contributions coming from the Exchequer, employers and employees. Legally, the Exchequer is the residual financier of the fund and Exchequer contributions were the norm for over forty years – for example, in 1967, the State contribution was 38% of SIF expenditure and almost 29% in 1985. However, no...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 74 together. The Department operates a network of some 125 local and branch offices throughout the country. Each local office has officers who are dedicated to providing information and are available to explain supports and services to people. Information officers provide a range of information to customers on their entitlements including, in broad...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I propose to take Questions Nos. 67, 68, 256 and 261 together. The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. To this end, operational processes and procedures and the organisation of work are reviewed in all areas of the Department. These reviews are supported by modern technology, the potential of which is continuously harnessed. Claims are...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No research was conducted on the impact of the removal of the Christmas bonus payment at family level or local retail level. In the current economic and financial crisis the Government's main priority must be to restore stability to the public finances. The measures necessary to achieve this will impact on everybody's living standards. The Supplementary Budget of April 2009 provided for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: With effect from 19th July 2010, changes have been introduced to the back to education allowance scheme (BTEA) to increase flexibility in terms of accessing the scheme. The period for which a person is required to be on a qualifying social welfare payment before accessing BTEA was reduced from 12 months to 9 months (a 2 year qualifying period continues to apply to participants coming from...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Deputy will be aware that social welfare legislation does not currently provide for reimbursement to the Department by insurance companies in cases where adjustments may have been made to special damages awards on foot of social welfare payments received by plaintiffs. As I indicated in a recent reply on this issue, preliminary work has been undertaken by the Department in relation to...

Written Answers — Rental Accommodation Scheme: Rental Accommodation Scheme (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Budget 2010 provided for a reduction in the rates of payments for jobseekers and other welfare recipients of working age. These reductions were made as part of the overall objective to reduce public expenditure and restore stability to the public finances. In the Supplementary Budget in 2009 and in Budget 2010, changes were also introduced in the level of weekly payments for new recipients...