Results 3,541-3,560 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The department's facilitators work with social welfare recipients of working age in order to determine their needs and arrange through direct provision or jointly with other agencies, appropriate training and developmental programmes to equip them to progress to employment, training or further education. The current economic climate has determined that a large part of a facilitator's work at...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The Government is anxious to ensure that as many people as possible can be accommodated within the social welfare pensions system, with due regard being paid to the contributory principle underlying entitlement to contributory payments and, in the case of non-contributory payments, the need to ensure that resources are directed to those who are most in need. Over the last 10 years, means...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 21, 41, 47, 54 and 176 together. The Live Register has increased to unprecedented levels as a result of the economic downturn that the country is currently experiencing. There are currently almost 72,000 claims awaiting decisions for jobseeker's benefit and jobseekers allowance. Approximately 10,000 claims are decided upon in a given week. (See the...
- Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The vast majority of workers pay social insurance contributions at the PRSI Class A rate. These general employees, together with their employers, pay a total social insurance contribution of 14.05%, excluding levies, under the full-rate PRSI Class A. These contributions provide entitlement to a range of contingency-based payments under various social insurance schemes. Traditionally, social...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: Entitlement to state pension contributory and non-contributory is not affected by a person's residency in a nursing home. However entitlement to household benefits, which comprise allowances for electricity or gas, telephone and free television licence, generally ceases when a person is a resident of a nursing home. There are a number of control measures in place to ensure the...
- Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 27, 34, 55, 56 and 62 together. Under the Pensions Act, defined benefit pension schemes must meet a minimum funding standard which requires that schemes maintain sufficient assets to enable them discharge accrued liabilities in the event of the scheme winding up. Where schemes do not satisfy the Funding Standard, the sponsors/trustees must submit a...
- Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The primary purpose of credited contributions is to preserve the continuity of a person's insurance record during periods when they are unable to work and pay PRSI in the normal way. In order to qualify for credited contributions, absences from work would generally have to be for reasons outside of the person's control, such as periods of proven illness or registered unemployment, or periods...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: In order to incentivise 18 and 19 year old jobseekers to avail of education and training opportunities and try to prevent their becoming welfare dependent from a young age, changes are being made to the Jobseekers Allowance. The rate of Jobseekers Allowance that will be paid to new claimants under the age of 20 is being reduced from â¬204.30 per week to â¬100 per week, with effect from the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The Live Register has increased to unprecedented levels as a result of the economic downturn that the country is currently experiencing. In many instances people begin queuing outside offices before they open in the mornings. These queues include people making a claim for the first time and people signing the Live Register to show that they continue to be unemployed. In order to deal with...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The purpose of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme is to provide assistance to an eligible person whose means are insufficient to meet his/her basic needs and those of his/her dependants. Support available under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme includes a basic weekly allowance, supplements in respect of rent, mortgage interest, diet or heating and exceptional/urgent needs...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The jobseekers schemes provide income support for people who are seeking their first job or have lost work and are seeking alternative employment. A fundamental qualifying condition for both the Jobseekers Benefit and Jobseekers Allowance is that a person must be available for full-time work. When determining the classification of casual and short time workers each case must be examined on...
- Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The Department collects information from jobseekers to establish entitlement to payments, to ensure that conditions for receipt of payment continue to be satisfied and to assist in the activation of those who are not progressing into employment or accessing training opportunities. Claims for jobseeker payments are processed in the department's local offices. Each claimant is advised of the...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: Full social insurance cover was extended to part-time workers from April 1991. At that time a range of measures were introduced to ensure that the rate of Jobseekers Benefit payable would be proportionate to the person's income and PRSI contributions. They were also intended to ensure that disincentives to employment were not created. In the absence of these measures, a situation would exist...
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 28, 30 and 42 together. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent and mortgage interest supplement and the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme, is administered by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE) on behalf of the department. The operational arrangements for processing of applications...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, an exceptional needs payment (ENP) may be made to help meet an essential once-off cost, such as a payment of a rent deposit, which the applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources. There is no automatic entitlement...
- Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The budget changes made to the rate of payment of jobseekers allowance to young people was undertaken in order to incentivise 18 and 19 year old jobseekers to avail of education and training opportunities and try to avoid them becoming welfare dependant from a young age. The full adult rate of the relevant payment will be paid to 18 and 19 year olds who participate in full time approved...
- Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The range of benefits and pensions to which different groups of workers may establish entitlement reflects the rate of contribution payable. Self-employed people are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 3% and are consequently eligible for a narrower range of benefits than general employees who, together with their employers, pay a total social insurance contribution of 14.05%, excluding...
- Written Answers — Child Support: Child Support (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The social security rights of people living and working in the EU are governed by EU Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72. The regulations coordinated social security systems and are designed to ensure that people are not disadvantaged by moving within the EU to take up work. The regulations are also intended to guarantee, within the Community, equality of treatment under various national...
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: Over the past two months a total of five executive officers who normally deal with fraud investigation have been assigned to claims decisions work. A further two executive officers involved in fraud investigation have been assigned to means assessment. While these were full-time reassignments, they were only for short periods. Most of these officers involved have reverted to their normal...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 36, 43, 53, 58 and 64 together. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are currently almost 85,000 people in receipt of...