Results 21,941-21,960 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 and 45 together. My Department will spend more than €1 billion in 2016 on work, training and education places in support of jobseekers. Expenditure and the number of schemes and participants has increased significantly in recent years in a response to the high levels of unemployment which peaked at 15%. The numbers of places available on work...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Per the most recent CSO data, inflation in the 12 months to end April has declined by 0.1%. The Central Bank, in their most recent Quarterly Bulletin, estimate that inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, will be 1.7% in 2017. The cost of a 1.7% increase across all working age payments, based on 2016 recipient numbers, is €138 million in a full year. A €1 per week...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The ‘marriage bar’ describes a rule that existed in most of the public service and some private sector employments, where women were required to leave their employment on marriage. This practice was abolished in 1973 when we joined the EEC. As employees in the public service generally paid a reduced rate of PRSI which provided no cover for the State pension, the marriage bar...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Payments (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The new partnership Government is committed to supporting carers through an increase in carer’s benefit and allowance. Credited contributions, normally known as credits, are awarded to recipients of carer’s benefit and of carer’s allowance where they have an underlying entitlement to credits. Recipients of these payments qualify for credits where they have at least one...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My Department provides two main options for payment methods for its customers: payments direct to customer accounts in financial institutions or payments in cash at post offices. In a small proportion of cases, cheque payments are used for business purposes such as emergency payments or at the opening and closing of claims. Specifically in respect of cash payments at Post Offices, in 2015 my...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Administration (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2016 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of almost €85 million on the farm...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The last Government established a Universal Retirement Savings Group (URSG) to proceed with work to develop a roadmap and timeline for the introduction of a universal supplementary workplace retirement saving system. The Group was asked to consider the constituent factors involved in constructing an efficient and effective model for such a system. The Group comprises of Assistant Secretary...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Programme for Government Initiatives (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46, 48, 49, 57 and 61 together. The recently agreed programme for a partnership government provides for a range of actions that are designed to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. One of these actions is a proposal for the Departments of Health and Social Protection to work together to pursue a “Fit for Work Programme”...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Initiatives (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Government’s primary strategy to tackle both youth and long-term unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Reflecting the impact of government policy, and the overall improvement in the labour market, youth unemployment continues to fall with a rate of 18.0% in April 2016 (as estimated by...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 53 and 60 together. Supports in relation to housing and the provision of financial supports, such as the rent supplement scheme currently supporting some 56,800 recipients at a cost of €267 million in 2016, are a priority for Government and are being considered by the Cabinet Committee on Housing in the context of the Programme for Government...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: After a series of challenging years, improvements for people in receipt of social welfare payments began in Budget 2015 and continued in Budget 2016. This included increases in the weekly rates of payment for pensioners and in the living alone allowance. There were also increases in child benefit, fuel allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. In addition, new initiatives aimed at...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Expenditure (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I understand from my officials that this question refers to the position at the beginning of 2009. The current weekly rates of payment for pensioners are higher than the rates in 2009. Accordingly, this costing does not include any rate changes for pensioners. The cost of increasing all working age payments to their 2009 equivalent rates is €896 million. The cost of introducing...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2016 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of almost €85 million on the farm...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Welfare Services Staff (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Following the transfer of the Community Welfare Service (CWS) from the Health Service Executive to the Department in 2011, the Department has re-engineered its business model and staffing resources to support the provision of integrated services across all business streams involved in the delivery of localised services. As part of this strategy, the Department is engaged in the delivery of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The 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 number of new claim received on both carer's allowance (CA) and domiciliary care allowance (DCA), continue to increase . This is putting addition pressure on the timely processing of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Household Benefits Scheme (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The overall concern in recent years has been to protect the primary social welfare rates. Expenditure on pensions at approx. €6.976 billion is the largest block of expenditure in the Department in the Estimate for 2016, representing approximately 35% of overall expenditure. Due to demographic changes, my Department’s spending on older people is increasing year on year....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child benefit as a universal payment to help families with the cost of raising children and plays an important role in tackling child poverty. It does not rely on a means test or social insurance contributions and is paid to the parents of qualified children up to the age of 18 years. It is paid to around 623,000 families for 1.2 million children with estimated spending of over €2...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payment Appeals (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided €30.3 million for the scheme in 2016. ENPs are payable at the discretion of the officers...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: In line with other EU and OECD jurisdictions where such measures feature in their social welfare systems, reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced in 2009. Budget 2014 further extended the reduced rates of jobseeker’s allowance to recipients under 26 years of age. This is a targeted, not discriminatory, measure aimed at protecting...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Payments (25 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My Department will be spending an estimated €500 million on the one-parent family payment (OFP) scheme in 2016. The scheme currently supports over 41,000 recipients and almost 74,500 children. The reforms to the OFP scheme were introduced to address long-term social welfare income support dependency. The reforms provide enhanced access to the Department’s Intreo service...