Results 3,261-3,280 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly Allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged over 16 and under 66. Processing of claims for Disability Allowance necessitates a medical examination of the claimant in some instances, and also investigation of the claimant's means by a Social Welfare Inspector, which may require a visit to the claimant's home. These processes can add...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The person concerned applied for disability allowance which is a means tested scheme. The Deciding Officer disallowed the claim on the grounds that the person's means exceeded the means limits for that scheme. He appealed against this decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. The Appeals Officer proposed to hold an oral hearing on 6 June 2007. This hearing was cancelled due to the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The living alone allowance, or living alone increase as it is now known, is an additional payment of €7.70 per week made to people aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are living alone. It is also available to people under 66 years of age who are living alone and who receive payments under one of a number of invalidity type schemes. The...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The person concerned was awarded respite care in respect of 2006. A Deciding Officer disallowed his application in respect of 2005 on the grounds that the care recipient was not so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention at that time. On 15 January 2007 the person concerned appealed against the decision to refuse him a Respite Care Grant for 2005. In accordance with the...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 405 and 406 together. Permanent and pensionable employees in the public service — other than those who were recruited after 6 April, 1995, registered doctors and dentists employed in the Civil Service, Gardaí, commissioned army officers and members of the Army Nursing Service — are liable to pay social insurance contributions at the modified PRSI Class D...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The household benefits package, which comprises the electricity/gas allowance, telephone allowance and free television licence schemes, is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. The package is also available to carers and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 408 and 413 together. The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is an income support for employees on low earnings with families. There are currently 20,780 people in receipt of a weekly FIS payment with an average value of over €130. Entitlement to FIS is based on an applicant satisfying a means test and on certification of employment by the employer. My...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: Approximately 76 per cent of workers pay PRSI Class A and Class H at the rate of 4 per cent. A further 11 per cent of workers pay social insurance contributions at the Class S rate. These contributions which are subject to various thresholds, allowances and ceilings, accrue entitlement to a range of benefits and pensions under various social insurance schemes. The current employee PRSI...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005, requires that an actuarial review of the financial condition of the social insurance fund will be undertaken at five-year intervals. The first actuarial review was published in October, 2002 and reflected the position of the Social Insurance Fund at the end of 2000. The second actuarial review will update that report to address the position of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Government discussion paper, Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents, puts forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the National Employment Action Plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of childcare; improved information services for lone parents and the introduction of a new social...

Written Answers — National Carers Strategy: National Carers Strategy (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 412 and 426 together. Supporting and recognising carers in our society has been a priority of the Government since 1997 and will continue as such during the coming term. Since 1997, weekly payment rates to carers have been greatly increased, qualifying conditions for carer's allowance have been significantly eased, coverage of the scheme has been extended and...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Government is committed to producing a Green Paper on pensions in accordance with the partnership agreement Towards 2016. My Department, in cooperation with the Departments of the Taoiseach, Finance and Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and the Pensions Board has been working over a number of months on the preparation of the Green Paper and I hope to have it discussed by Government as...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) last year, provided services to some 12,500 new clients throughout the country. The number of active cases at the end of the year was some 14,900. The demand for the service can be attributed to the increase in the availability of credit generally and to the quality of the service provided by MABS advisors. In 2006, €16.4 million was provided...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: Under the terms of an earlier Social Partnership agreement the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) was asked to examine the feasibility of merging the family income supplement with qualified child increases and possibly including other child supports such as the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, resulting in a single second tier child income support. Such a payment...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 417 and 424 together. It is a fundamental principle of our social insurance system that those qualifying for benefits must satisfy a range of contribution and other conditions. In the case of contributory pensions this involves commencing payment of contributions 10 years before pension age, payment of a minimum number of contributions at an appropriate rate...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The State pension (transition) was introduced in 1970 when it was known as the retirement pension. It was designed to bridge the gap between the standard social welfare pension age, which at that time was 70 years of age, and retirement at age 65. Because of the purpose for which the scheme was introduced, a key qualifying condition was that a person had to be retired in order to qualify for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, provides for the payment of a rent supplement to assist eligible people who are unable to provide for their immediate accommodation needs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. Rent...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Southern Area of the Health Service Executive has advised that it will not be in a position to deal with individual claims for back to school clothing and footwear allowance until the first week in July at the earliest. A determination of the entitlement of the person concerned to payment is expected to be made at that time and she will be notified directly of the decision. The Health...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: A Deciding Officer disallowed the jobseekers benefit claim of the person concerned from 14 September 2006 to 14 April 2007 on the grounds that she was not available for full-time work. She had not informed the Department that she was engaged in a full-time course of study during this period. Consequently, an overpayment of €5,366.90 was raised on her claim and she was notified accordingly...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jun 2007)

Martin Cullen: The Community Employment (CE) scheme is a programme administered by FÁS which is designed to assist long-term unemployed and others who are distant from the labour force by offering them part-time and temporary work positions in jobs based within local communities. Following the placement, participants are actively encouraged to capitalise on the skills and experience that they have obtained...