Results 2,561-2,580 of 5,587 for speaker:Kevin Humphreys

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2014: Second Stage (11 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: First, I apologise on behalf of the Tánaiste. She had hoped to be here today herself to take Second Stage but, fortunately for me, she had to travel to Stormont, and I got the opportunity to come in to the Seanad. This is a short social welfare Bill by normal standards but nonetheless it marks a positive shift in our economic and social recovery. This recovery can now clearly be seen....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (11 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 47 together. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources. There are approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Funding (11 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The training budget for Community Employment (CE) in 2014 is €5.8m. Each DSP Division is allocated an overall training budget for schemes. There is flexibility that can be applied in the approval of training rates, particularly when the training is leading to a Major Award e.g. in childcare. However, each Division has to keep expenditure in line with the annual budget allocation for...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I welcome Deputy Clare Daly's confirmation that she intends to bring her concerns and her information to the Pensions Authority. That would be helpful. She might have more information on the matter than I have. In fairness to the Tánaiste, she has covered a lot of the ground. She has gone over the issue and the history of the last ten years. In light of the uncertainty about the...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: In fairness to the Tánaiste, she has spent 13 hours on the Social Welfare Bill through this-----

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: She has been here for over 13 hours.

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The Deputy should be fair to the Tánaiste.

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: She should have some sense of fairness, at least.

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I am wondering how many times I can answer the same questions in a different manner. I know the Deputy's interest is in the Kildare area. The regional managers within the Kildare area were met by the Tánaiste yesterday. We are ensuring flexibility is given by the front-line officers to reflect the local market costs within those areas. Correspondence is going out to all front-line...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I am well aware of this issue. I am sure every Deputy deals with queries from outside their own constituencies on all issues. I accept there is particular difficulty in the greater Dublin area but also in the Kildare area, where there has been a surge of employment, for example, in the construction industry, following the announcement of the jobs at Kerry Group and given the lift in...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I am not too certain of that, although I will look at it with a small group. My experience, certainly in my Dublin city centre constituency, is that the vast number of those taking rent supplement are in the buy-to-let area, where a single person had bought the property for their pension or otherwise. Some describe them as hobby landlords and, in many cases, that created problems because...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has launched a medium and long-term investment of €2.3 billion in social housing. There is also a short-term problem. It is a complicated problem and we must move carefully through it. The roll-out of the pilot scheme of HAP will be very useful and worthwhile as the local authorities will engage directly with the...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The High Court judgment did not find that the scheme as operated denies children their right to care of both their parents. As acknowledged in the judgment, the legislation provides that decision makers must have due regard to the circumstances of an individual and the relationship with his/her children in terms of financial and material support and dependency. In this particular case,...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I do not know whether the Department has the statistics the Deputy requested. If we have them, I will forward them to him. The Deputy is correct about the figure of more than 88,000. As the Deputy correctly said, a proportion of those might not have custody. The Department is commencing a technical review of rent supplement legislation and procedures to ensure they are compliant with the...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The Department is reviewing the implications of the case and that should be carried out within a reasonable amount of time. With regard to the Equal Status Act and the technical review being undertaken, I am not sure of the length of time involved but I will make inquiries.

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: We discussed this at length earlier on. By the way, I take this opportunity to point out that Deputy Ó Snodaigh did in fact vote for that and I am happy to correct the record. I know he had many arguments on the matter. I am happy to correct the point immediately. We are taking proactive action and measures. The Tánaiste met all the regional managers yesterday to explain...

Other Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I explained to Deputy Boyd Barrett previously that in the particular case, Threshold did not work, but in the past week we have been working to ensure consistency of service and that flexibility is operated throughout the stream. Again, it is best for people to engage with the services and, indeed, for Deputy Boyd Barrett to engage with the services. The Deputy is correct that I cannot...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I very much look forward to the Deputy's support on this, and I welcome his change of mind on it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The Deputy looked for excuses to oppose every item of legislation at every hand's turn.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. The Deputy's question stems from a newspaper article in The Mirroron the percentages. We do not set rent allowances on the basis of what appears in The Mirror, even though it is a reputable newspaper. We have different caps across the State reflecting the market. For example, there are two different caps in County Wicklow depending on how close one is to the city. The...