Results 3,621-3,640 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The main objective of the scheme is to make up the difference between a person's means and their needs. Where a person has access to resources, through the social welfare system or otherwise, the relevant legislation requires that this be taken into...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The homemaker's scheme was introduced in 1994 to protect the pension entitlements of those who take time out of the paid workforce for caring duties. The scheme allows up to 20 years to be disregarded when a person's insurance record is being averaged to assess entitlement for contributory pension purposes. The scheme will not of itself qualify a person for a pension as the standard...

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The five statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, Comhairle, the Family Support Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition, the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of my Department. There are currently no vacancies on the Pensions Board. There are currently no vacancies on the board of the Combat Poverty...

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The five statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, Comhairle, the Family Support Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition, the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of my Department. The Pensions Board was established in December 1990 under the Pensions Act 1990. The role of the board is to monitor and...

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: A key objective of my Department is to ensure that the range and level of social security coverage is appropriate to the social and economic circumstances of different groups, including women, and that the services for which people are eligible are readily accessible and delivered in an efficient, effective and integrated way. There has been a significant increase in the level of social...

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In effect the Deputy has raised with me the agenda of the National Women's Council. Obviously he met its representatives, as I also did. If I were in Opposition I would also go through their shopping list. When I met them I gave them some answers. While I do not have at my fingertips the detailed data the Deputy seeks, I will get them for him. Deputy Stanton asked me how many women over 65...

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Some 83% of women receive social welfare support in some form. Some 19,000 are supported as qualified adults on the pension of their spouses or partners. Approximately 90% of those receiving support have a payment in their own right. Many of these women receive widow's payments. At the end of January 2004, 32% of those in receipt of either an old age contributory or retirement pension were...

Social Welfare Code. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The process of increasing the qualified adult allowance commenced with the budget for 2000 and a number of special increases have been given to qualified adults since then. While I know the Deputy referred to the ratio, the rate of the qualified allowance on the contributory pension now stands at €138.50, which is 84% of the maximum rate of the non-contributory pension. In that case we have...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. Every effort is made to ensure that customers receive all their entitlements as soon as possible following application. Entitlement to disability allowance is contingent on the applicant satisfying both medical and means conditions. To satisfy the medical condition customers submit a medical certificate from their...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In the first six months of 2005, 10,500 applications were received. That compares with a total of 8,700 in the same period last year so that is quite an increase. Currently, there are 3,422 cases awaiting calculation of arrears and 2,800 of these are for people who have been awarded the allowance. A total of 572 cases are for persons who have been given revised rates of payment. Out of the...

Pension Provisions. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Question Nos. 6, 40, 70, 83, 85, 369 and 389 together. It is Government policy to encourage people to participate in occupational and private pension arrangements, so they can maintain their pre-retirement standard of living when they retire. To this end, a range of measures has been introduced in recent years including personal retirement savings accounts, or PRSAs,...

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The most recent statistics on poverty levels in Ireland are derived from the new 2003 EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions, EU-SILC, and were released earlier this year by the Central Statistics Office. This survey replaces the Living in Ireland Survey, which was conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute until 2001 and which provided data on consistent and relative poverty...

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The relative income poverty measure here is 22.7%. At the risk attracting unwanted headlines, I do not believe 22.7% of the people of Ireland live in poverty. That is the relative income measure and the word "relative" is important. We are all poor relative to someone else. I have been critical of the measurements before. I rely on the figures from the ESRI, NESC, CSO and EU but I also point...

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I will keep it in perspective. The 22.7% figure is interesting but the figure for consistent poverty is 5.2%.

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The EU-SILC survey for 2003 reported that 10.2% of households — an increase from 5.2%, I apologise — are in consistent poverty.

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Consistent poverty is regarded as those deprived of basic goods and services with incomes below the 60% threshold. I will focus on consistent poverty and child poverty. The figures I have for child poverty range from 66,000 to 120,000.

Poverty Levels. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I am continuing to increase child benefit and welfare payments, which have already increased dramatically. I am finalising work on the possibility of a second tier of child benefit which would be focused exclusively on children in low income households. We have had a number of meetings about that and we are making progress. It will be a major instrument in tackling child poverty.

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I am conscious of the need to facilitate persons in receipt of social welfare payments to take up employment opportunities and to ensure the social welfare supports are structured to support this objective. I am aware of the specific issue raised by the Deputy, which was also raised in the recent discussions at the committee on social affairs that he chairs. Several measures have been...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Limits are adjusted from time to time, often in the budget. I will keep these income limits under review. However, it is a battle of choices where sometimes we need to increase rates rather than move limits. It is often a trade-off. I have given the Deputy the overall increase in welfare expenditure. This year we have tried to target it at increasing the rates rather than moving the limit. I...

Social Welfare Benefits. (30 Jun 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The purpose of the supplementary welfare allowance rent supplement scheme, administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, is to ensure that private sector tenants who are not in full-time employment or full-time education have a guaranteed minimum amount of income with which to meet their basic day to day needs after paying rent. It is a...