Results 3,641-3,660 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy for the question because it gives me an opportunity to set the scene in terms of what has been agreed. I met unions and CE supervisors on a number of occasions before their planned strike. We had a genuine and decent conversation. The Deputy will be aware that the strike was called off with a view to us establishing a planned engagement in the coming weeks and months. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: That was resolved in July 2017.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Yes. We made changes on foot of being told that Tús and CE schemes could not find applicants. We also made them in light of the lobbying done for many months by the good Deputies present, including Deputy Brady. We provided that people on JobPath could be available to go to Tús to see if that was what they wanted to do. That has been the case for some time.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Jobseeker's Payments (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: It must be noted that there is no legally mandated retirement age in the State and I do not think that is true of any other state. The age at which employees in Ireland retire is therefore a matter for the contract between the employer and the employee. While such a contract may have been entered into when the retirement age was 65 years, this is in the context of previous State pension...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Jobseeker's Payments (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The purpose of raising the State pension age was not to force those people who are 65 years of age or over onto jobseekers' payments. Rather, the then Government - we continue to believe this - sought to encourage workers to remain economically active for longer in recognition of the fact that they are living longer and healthier lives. We wish to promote the implications of their increased...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Department is genuinely committed to ensuring that claims for its schemes are processed as quickly as possible. In April 2019 new claims for non-contributory State pension, carer's allowance, carer's benefit and domiciliary care allowance schemes were processed within their respective target timeframes. Depending on the scheme, targets for awarding claims are set between ten and 12...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I will give the Deputy some new statistics since the last time he asked a question about this matter. There are currently 81,652 people in receipt of carer's allowance providing care to 89,679 recipients with 49,704 qualified children. There are some 2,770 people in receipt of carer's benefit giving care to 3,185 people. The average processing time for carer's benefit is 11 weeks. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The legislation on the victimisation of workers is important. In recent months, I have been approached directly by a number of people who were genuinely afraid that even if they won their cases, they would have no choice but to leave their organisations because they would be treated so badly. That is not acceptable and that culture needs to be stamped out. We will do that in law. Similar...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: That is exactly what we are doing. Since the Deputy might not be aware of it, I am not trying to be smart when I say we actually are taking a whole-of-government approach. The code of practice is being reviewed by an interdepartmental group comprising the Workplace Relations Commission, the Department of Finance, Revenue and my Department. We are also having conversations with ICTU and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Jobseeker's Payments (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 provided that the State pension age would increase to age 67 years in 2021 and 68 years in 2028. The purpose of these changes was to make the pension system more sustainable in the context of increasing life expectancy. This has significant implications for the future costs of the State's pension provision, which are increasing by approximately...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service for all recipients.  This includes ensuring that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.  Where a customer’s appeal is successful, every effort is made to implement the decision of the appeals officer without any delay. There is no metric for the time taken to process claims following decisions...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: In any year, approximately 85% of claims to the Department are awarded. The application process is relatively simple, albeit lengthy. Only 1% of people who apply make an appeal. This is a small number but the Department makes every effort to adjudicate on appeals as quickly as possible. Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to this process in recent years, as a result of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The people who make the payments are not the same people who make the decisions. When a decision is made, the case is transferred to the section that makes payments. There is a delay but we are trying to reduce it. It may cause undue distress but there is not a single person who has been awarded a claim and who cannot get money from their local office. We make house calls to ensure people...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Disguised employment, commonly known as bogus self-employment, occurs when businesses deliberately misclassify workers as being self-employed when they are de factoemployees of the business concerned.  This is done largely to avoid payment of the employer portion of social insurance contributions and to limit the accrual of employment rights. I share the Deputy's concerns that any...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code Reform (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am happy to say the poverty rates in this country are coming down. That is because we made changes in the last few budgets to target the groups of people who are most at risk such as lone parents, people with disabilities and larger families, particularly those with children over 12 years of age. All of those issues have been addressed. Thankfully, the latest data from the survey on...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code Reform (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: As I said in a previous reply, we will be discussing this issue at the pre-budget forum and the Deputy is welcome to attend to give his input, as are all the political parties. We do not necessarily need a commission to take the politics out of indexing. We need an algorithm and something on which we all agree that will set the rates. It may need to be within a commission or it may not,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The main income supports for carers provided by my Department include carer’s allowance, carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance and the carer's support grant. Spending on these payments in 2019 is expected to exceed €1.2 billion. Carer’s allowance is a means-tested payment for people living in Ireland who are looking after somebody who needs support because...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: One of principal conditions for receipt of carer's allowance is that full-time care is being provided. In addition, the carer must comply with the means test. The conditions attached to the payment of carer's allowance are consistent with the overall conditions that apply to all social welfare assistance payments. The system of social assistance supports provides payments based on the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I know that I have a reputation of sticking my nose into stuff that has nothing to do with me but neither of the Deputy's questions falls within the remit of my Department. The Carer's Leave Act is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice and Equality and responsibility for the national carers' strategy rests with the Minister for Health. A couple of weeks ago, I stated we needed to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: State Pensions Reform (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: As I recall it, the legislation that was introduced in this House in October 2018 was accepted without amendment by every Member and party in this House. I took it from the unanimity that existed at the time that Deputies were content with the approach that was being taken. While there are people who have not got an uplift as a result of this approach to making an amount of money people...