Results 2,741-2,760 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Applications (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in-work payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. In order to qualify for WFP you must have at least 1 qualified child who normally resides with you. Under Social Welfare Legislation, a qualified child is defined as a child under 18 years of age or aged between 18 and 22 and in full-time day education....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. The person concerned has been in receipt of a Carers Allowance payment since 4th April 2002. The department has no record of an additional application for a second caree by the person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. I confirm that my department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person concerned on 21 June 2019. Additional information in relation to the person’s...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: All Jobseekers on the live register; including those working part time and in receipt of jobseeker payments must be capable of; available for and actively seeking full time employment, they are also required to engage with the Department’s activation services. The Social Welfare (Consolidated) Act 2005, as amended, specifies that participation in activation meetings is mandatory. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Illness Benefit claim from the person concerned has been awarded and is currently paid up to date. I am advised that there was a delay in the person concerned receiving payment as the account details provided to the Department were incorrect. The department received the correct bank account details on the 27th September 2019, and the person's claim was subsequently updated and all...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Funding (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) is aimed at quality projects that provide excellent work experience that will assist a person participating on CE to enter the open labour market on exit from the scheme. The programme supports voluntary and community companies to provide local services for their communities. CE sponsors receive annual contracts from my Department which fund the employment of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,580 schools and organisations benefitting 250,000 children at a total cost of €57.6 million in 2019 representing an increase of €3.6 million over the previous year. The objective of the scheme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions Reform (8 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The introduction of a Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to establishing the level of entitlement for all new state pension contributory claims was signalled by the then Government in the National Pensions Framework in 2010. At that time it set a target date of 2020 for the implementation of TCA. More recently, the Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-2023 targeted implementation of the TCA...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who has decided to hold an oral hearing in this case on 18 October 2019.  The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am aware that the Deputy made representations to my Department concerning this case early last month. The person concerned originally applied for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) in July 2017 in respect of a third level course which he was due to start in September 2017.  However, I am advised that based upon his Leaving Certificate results and his educational record...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 340 and 355 together. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an application for carer's allowance by the person concerned was disallowed by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection on 21 November 2018 and this was upheld by a review of the Department on 25 April 2019.  An appeal by the person concerned was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department is obliged to recover all debt owed to it as quickly as possible and within the relevant legislation and guidelines governing the recovery of debt.  The person concerned has an outstanding One Parent Family Parent (OPFP) debt and proposals on its recovery have been made to her. Previously the person concerned was repaying this debt by monthly direct debit payments for the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: A breakdown of the cases which are repaying and not repaying by scheme area and by the year in which the overpayment was raised is set out in tables 1 and 2 respectively.  I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy. Table 1 - Outstanding customer debts – value outstanding over €10,000 by scheme area – as at end August 2019 Scheme   Repaying  ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Promotions (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department, like all Government departments and agencies is required to operate within a staff ceiling figure and a commensurate administrative staffing budget, which for this Department has involved reductions in staff numbers. The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continuously reviewed, taking account of workloads, management priorities and the ongoing need to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am currently engaging with representatives of Community Emloyment supervisors and assistant supervisors to discuss issues arising following the 2008 Labour Court Recommendation.  All parties to the engagement process have agreed that the detail of the discussions should remain confidential while the engagement is ongoing and I would ask Deputies to respect these wishes and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The 2019 Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseeker’s allowance (JA) scheme of €1.6 billion.  Reduced rates for JA recipients aged 18-25 were introduced on a phased basis to tackle high youth unemployment and to prevent long term welfare dependency.  This is in line with other EU and OECD jurisdictions. Receiving the maximum rate...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS), under the aegis of the Citizens Information Board, (CIB) provides assistance to people, in particular those on low incomes or living on social welfare payments, who are over-indebted and need help and advice with debt problems. As part of its free services, MABS provides help and advice to those in mortgage arrears. The Dedicated Mortgage...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the following tabular statement. Table 1. Average weeks to award a claim in August 2019 Average Weeks to Award  August 2019 Illness Benefit 1 Disability Allowance 14  Carer's Allowance 16  Carer's Benefit 13  Invalidity Pension 10  Domiciliary Care Allowance 10

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Occupational Injuries Benefit Payments (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: An application for Occupational Injury Benefit was received by the Department on the 26th September 2019. This application has been awarded at a rate of €203 per week. The person concerned is currently medically certified as unfit for work until the 7th October 2019, and all arrears have been issued to him. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy. 

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Occupational Injuries Benefit Data (3 Oct 2019)

Regina Doherty: A total of 583 disablement benefit applications under the occupational injury benefit scheme have been received from former coal miners across the country to date. The outcome of these applications is as follows:  No. of applications  Arigna only Countrywide Received 311 583 Pending 5 12 Awarded 140 238 Disallowed 150 287 Withdrawn by the customer 16 46...