Results 21,481-21,500 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Responsibility for Civil Service grades and pay scales rests with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. With effect from 1stJanuary 2011 reduced pay rates applied to certain direct entry grades in the Civil Service, namely Administrative Officer, Executive Officer, Clerical Officer, Services Officer, Services Attendant and Cleaner. This was communicated to all Departments by...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Benefit Payments (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Carer’s allowance (CA) was in payment to the person concerned from 22 January 2015 in respect of one care recipient. It is a condition for receipt of a CA that the carer must be providing full-time care and attention. A person is deemed to require full-time care and attention (FTCA) where they require from another person continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Work experience and placement opportunities programmes such as JobBridge, Tús and Community Employment are among a range of activation measures administered by the Department to support unemployed people in their efforts to get back into the labour force. Significant exchequer resources have been invested in the provision and maintenance of these programmes. The basic allowance paid to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Administration (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to around 624,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: 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 prevent child and family poverty and offers a financial incentive to take-up employment as compared to other social welfare payments. There are currently over 56,000 families with more than 122,000 children in receipt of FIS. Expenditure on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Payments (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to around 623,607 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud Data (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 to 176, inclusive, together. Section 261 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 provides for the sharing of data for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud in social welfare schemes. Information held by another Government Department or a public body which is required for the purposes of the Act for the control of schemes may be transferred to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The total number of claims and the cost of the Dental Benefit scheme in the relevant years are detailed in the following table: Year Claims Cost 2011 272,865 €9,149,860 2012 270,602 €8,933,611 2013 298,658 €9,850,981 2014 310,350 €10,236,427 2015 312,659 €10,314,722 I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The total claims received and the cost of the optical benefit scheme in the relevant years are detailed in the following table. Year Claims Cost 2011 135,593 €3,292,836 2012 139,805 €3,386,861 2013 141,972 €3,447,380 2014 149,026 €3,610,334 2015 163,974 €3,977,233 I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The main role of the Department’s Medical Assessor (MA) in Medical Review and Assessment Section is to assess a customer for medical eligibility, based on medical certification and reports provided by the customer’s medical practitioner and in some instances via in-person assessments. The MA provides a medical opinion to a Deciding Officer in the Department’s relevant...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Gateway is a Local Authority initiative which aims to provide short-term quality and suitable work opportunities to improve the employability and maintain the work readiness of those who have been unemployed for 24 months or more. Participants on Gateway are entitled to claim for any dependent child/children who satisfy the eligibility criteria. Gateway employees are subject to normal...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Code Reform (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: All former one-parent family payment recipients who transitioned to a jobseeker’s allowance or jobseeker’s transitional payment have access to my Department’s Intreo service. This is the first time that my Department is proactively engaging with lone parents. My Department is now fully engaging with jobseeker’s transitional payment recipients, i.e., lone...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Supports in relation to housing and the provision of financial supports, such as the rent supplement scheme currently supporting some 55,000 recipients at a cost of €267 million in 2016, are a key priority for Government. In advance of the launch of the report of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, my Department has been examining the rent limits in the context of the Government...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Education and Training Boards Staff (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: This is a matter for my colleague in Department of Education.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As advised in the reply to the Deputy’s most recent question in this matter (ref: 16626-16), the person concerned received their jobseeker's allowance payment this week, including any arrears that were due from the date of their claim. Child dependant allowances were not payable to the claimant for the period they were out of the family home as these payments had been previously been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Carer’s allowance (CA) is in payment to the person concerned since 24 June 2010 in respect of one care recipient. I confirm that my department received an application for CA from the person concerned on 13 April 2016 in respect of 2ndcare recipient. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As part of the assessment of means for Rent Supplement, all capital savings and investments, including monies accrued through the sale of a person's family home, are subject to a means test. This means test is applied consistently to all applicants for Rent Supplement in accordance with the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005, Section 196. As detailed to the Deputy in previous...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer has decided to hold an oral hearing of the appeal of the person concerned. As a matter of priority, the hearing will scheduled within the next 3 weeks and the person concerned will shortly be notified of the exact arrangements for the hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Applications (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The client concerned has been requested to provide the Department with up to date documentation regarding the changes to her rate of rent payable. On receipt of same, the claim will be re-assessed with regard to entitlement. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Payments (23 Jun 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm an application for disability allowance was received from the person in question on 2 March 2016 and was awarded from that date. My Department received no request from the applicant at that time to back-date the date of award of the allowance. In view of the circumstances as outlined, the date of award of DA has now been reviewed and revised back to 25 November 2015. Arrears of...