Results 2,521-2,540 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: In budget 2020 I announced that recipients of carers' payments would be allowed to increase the number of hours they could work, study or attend a training course outside the home from 15 hours to 18.5 per week. Over 1,200 additional family carers are expected to qualify for payment as a result of this change, at an estimated cost of €11.6 million. Also, any carer currently working...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy who is absolutely right. All of the carer organisations attended the pre-budget forum, which we hold in Dublin Castle every summer, and did not ask for this change in isolation. They asked for five actions, four of which were delivered by the Government in the budget. I am not trying to discount or disregard the enormous contributions of carers, both those in receipt of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Back to Work Allowance Data (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy might have me on both questions. I will come back to him later, if that is acceptable.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Back to Work Allowance Data (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: We undertook a review in 2016 that focused on assessing the extent to which the allowance was meeting its objectives and on the identification of best practice for future change. The review found that the scheme offered effective supports for long-term unemployed people with a genuine interest in self-employment as a route to entering or re-entering the labour market. The review suggested...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: We would never do that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: PRSI credited contributions, or credits, are only awarded to former employees to cover gaps in social insurance where they were not in a position to pay PRSI contributions. This would be, for example, during periods of unemployment or illness. Self-employed workers do not qualify for credits. The farm assist scheme was introduced in 1999 to provide income support for low-income farmers....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I do not know and will have to look into it. When they were receiving a payment on top of the small income they had, they would have made class S contributions and have the ability to fill the gaps that may now exist in their records by buying voluntary contributions. When the changes were made to attribute their credits to them, we fixed that anomaly. What the Deputies are requesting now...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am not saying "No", but I will have to have a look at it. Carers are not mostly working. I do not know the answer and will come back to the Deputies.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am saying the position is that if one is working, one is working. One cannot be working and not working at the same time. We need to look at it as it is a nuanced matter. The significant changes made over the past number of years impact on these people while other changes have made positive contributions to other people who were caring.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: We are talking about retrospectively changing what was the practice. I know well that the Deputy knows this. Self-employed people do not work three days on and two days off. They might work two hours on a Monday and four hours on a Friday, but it still means they are making the contribution for that week, month or year. Self-employed people make their contributions in 52-week blocks....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I can probably ask the Department to come up with the metrics to tell us how much it would cost if we did this or that, and we could feed this information into the work of Catherine Day and the Citizens' Assembly as it would be very valuable for them to have it. We all have an enormous appetite to change the way we care for our carers, but it will come at a cost and the costs will have to be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: JobPath Data (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: Legislation provides that sanctions or penalties in the form of reduced payments may be imposed by a deciding officer of the Department where clients fail, without good cause, to co-operate with the Department's activation processes. A reduced payment rate can only be applied in specific circumstances and following multiple warnings. All jobseekers are required to engage with my...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: JobPath Data (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: Given the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the potential - God forbid - for losing 40,000 or 50,000 jobs, the Department triggered an extension to the provisions of the existing contract and agreement was reached with the JobPath providers to extend the existing contracts by one year, with referrals on that JobPath programme up until 2020. It is not a renewal of the JobPath contracts but...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Back to Work Allowance Data (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The back to work enterprise allowance scheme provides an incentive and support for people who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments, such as jobseekers and one parent families, to develop a business, while allowing them to retain a reducing proportion of their welfare payment over two years.  Participants maintain 100% of their payment in year one and 75% in year two....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am not sure why the Deputy called it an anomaly given that it was part of the carers' benefit system, which is enshrined in legislation. It was a decision made when we sat down with a finite amount and we had to decide who we needed to best look after. We had to see how thinly we could spread the money to reach the most people in the current economy. When I considered increasing the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I ask the Acting Chairman to indulge me briefly. I believe that we need to have a proper conversation about care in this country. No one can ignore it for much longer given we will have far more carers in future than ever. Collectively, we recognise that the State needs to change the way it works, supports and cares for our carers. That is why Ms Catherine Day is a very welcome...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I have asked to ensure that the Carers' Association is front and centre to any new Citizens' Assembly and, collectively, we should all buy into whatever recommendations emerge and the changes required to care for carers.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: It is the net family working payment and income tax.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The system of social assistance supports administered by my Department, with the exception of Ccildrens' allowance, provide payments based on income need. That is just how it has always been. That is not to say that should be applicable to people who are caring and that is why we need to have a proper conversation in the context of cross-party support and recognition of the valuable work...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (23 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I realise I sound like a broken record. The disregards are set based on budgetary parameters. The means test is probably one of the most generous in our social welfare system and one of the most generous in the European Union. What if I do a review and tell the House it will cost €1.6 billion to ensure carers have no means test? There is not a person in this room who has a magic...