Results 281-300 of 16,746 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Persons in full time education including, those studying for a PhD. can maintain their social insurance record so they can continue to be eligible for social insurance benefits in two ways, either through credited employment contributions (credits) or voluntary contributions. The primary purpose of credits is to preserve the continuity of a person’s insurance record during periods...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Statistics on fuel allowance recipients by qualifying primary payment and by age group are published annually in the Department's Annual Statistics Report. The report is available through my Department's statistics landing page, gov.ie/dsp/statistics. The number of Recipients of Fuel Allowance by Primary Payment at the end of 2023 and 2024 is shown in the table below. The methodology for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 627, 628, 630, 631 and 632 together. The Fuel Allowance scheme is a means-tested payment to assist pensioners and other long-term social welfare dependent householders with their winter heating costs. The payment is made over the winter season from September to April at the weekly rate of €33.00 or, if preferred, by way of two (lump sum) instalments,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Statistics on fuel allowance recipients by county are published annually in the Department's Annual Statistics Report. It is not possible to break down fuel allowance recipients by local authority area as this data is not held by my Department; a table showing the county-breakdown at the end of 2024 is provided below. Expenditure is recorded at the scheme level, not the individual level....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The cost of increasing the Fuel Allowance by €10 and €15 and €20 is as follows: - Weekly Increase to the Fuel Allowance Payment Number of Weeks Payable Number of Recipients Estimated Additional Cost €10 28 410,000 €114.8 million €15 28 410,000 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Means tests are a central part of any social welfare system in ensuring that limited resources are targeted at those who are most in need. Ireland's system of social transfers consistently ranks among the top performers in the European Union for poverty reduction. A key factor in this achievement is Ireland's use of means testing in targeting resources for the most vulnerable in our...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria. This ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment is targeted at those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means tested payment for persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult. The applicant must also satisfy the habitual residency conditions. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 11 December 2023. The claim was disallowed as the means of the person exceeded the statutory limit. The person concerned was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment a person must satisfy all relevant qualifying criteria including satisfying a means test. The means test ensures that the Fuel Allowance payment goes to those who are more vulnerable to fuel poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 638 to 643, inclusive, together. The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme provides support for the setting up of a new enterprise based in Ireland which is to be established as either a sole trader, a partnership or a limited company. The proposed enterprise must be recommended, in advance, by both the Enterprise Officer in the Local Development...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reviews (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of financial supports, energy efficiency awareness initiatives and investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to examine key ancillary benefits such as the Fuel Allowance, Household...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Parent’s Benefit is available in respect of any child born or placed with their adoptive parents from 1 November 2019. Parent’s Benefit provides nine weeks payment to each parent of a child aged under two years, or in the two years following an adoption, who is on Parent’s Leave from work to care for their child and covered by social insurance (PRSI). In Q2 2025, a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 646 and 657 together. Responsibility for the policy around the period of Maternity, Paternity, Parent’s or Parental Leave for employees is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality. An extension of these leaves would require careful consideration and consultation with relevant stakeholders. My Department has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit (JPRB) is a payment you can get if you become fully unemployed and who have paid enough pay-related social insurance (PRSI) contributions. You cannot work and get Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit at the same time. The amount of JPRB you get is directly linked to your earnings from work before you became unemployed. To the end of August 2025, a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: As at end August 2025, there were 28,651 people aged under 66 years in receipt of Bereaved Partner’s Pension (Contributory). As at end August 2025, there are a further 983 people in receipt of Bereaved Partner’s Pension (Non-Contributory). Illness Benefit is the primary short-term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government 2025 has committed to examining extending the Free Travel scheme to include children benefitting from the Domiciliary Care Allowance. Domiciliary Care Allowance is a non means tested payment payable at €360 a month per child. In addition, all recipients of Domiciliary Care Allowance qualify for the Carer's Support Grant in June of each year. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Matters relating to foster carers, previously foster parents, are the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality. This Government acknowledges the important role that carers, including foster carers, play and remains fully committed to supporting them. The State Pension (Contributory) system already provides a range of measures to recognise caring...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The table below gives the average weeks to award for all main schemes as of July 2025. My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. The Deputy will appreciate how processing times can vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. Schemes that require a high level of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I understand the Deputy has clarified that his question is in relation to providing entitlement to illness benefit to self-employed contributors. Illness benefit is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (30 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The State Pension (Non-Contributory) is a means-tested social assistance payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a State Pension (Contributory), or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. My Department has over 90 schemes of which a significant number are means-tested schemes,...