Results 3,701-3,720 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payment Data (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment under this scheme. Payments are made at the discretion of the officers...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Rent supplement continues its important role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting some 21,250 recipients for which the Government has provided €132.4 million for 2019. Staff in this Department engage with customers throughout the entire lifecycle of their claim, including on regular reviews for all schemes on an ongoing basis, as a control measure and to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Effective debt management is a key part of the overall control work of the Department. Ensuring that persons who have been overpaid make an on-going contribution to the recovery of their debts is a key element of this work. Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise as a consequence of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Data (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The total number of persons in receipt of a jobseeker's allowance payment at the end of April was 144,026; of these, 93,626 recipients had been in receipt of this allowance for a period exceeding one year.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Data (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Government policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. The policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs have created an environment in which business can succeed and has led to the creation of more than 400,000 jobs in Ireland since the economic low point of 2012. Secondly, through the Pathways to Workstrategy, my Department ensures that as many new jobs as possible are filled by people taken...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals legislation provides that it is a matter for an Appeals Officer to decide whether an appeal can be fairly determined by means of a summary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement based on post Budget 2012 rate-bands. These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes provision for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (29 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who has decided to hold an oral hearing in this case on 6th June 2019. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (29 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Government acknowledges the crucial role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for a Partnership Government and the National Carers’ Strategy. My colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, has policy responsibility for maternity leave, parental leave, force majeure leave and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (29 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement based on post Budget 2012 rate-bands. These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes provision for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Civil Registration Legislation (29 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The commencement of section 13 of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 is subject to engagement by Civil Registration Service staff in the HSE with training that has been developed by the General Register Office of my Department. Officials from my Department are meeting shortly with counterparts from the Department of Health and the HSE to progress the matter with a view to early...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (29 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The household benefits package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €248 million this year on HHB for over 446,000 customers. The fuel allowance is a payment of €22.50 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €630 each year) from October to April, to over 375,000 low income households, at an...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The average waiting time until the end of last year was 19 weeks, which is wholly unacceptable, but it is currently 15 weeks. Although that does not meet the 12-week target we have set in the Department, it is moving in the right direction, for two reasons. The first is we have changed the application form to try to make it less onerous and to allow us gather more information. There are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: His rudeness.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Waiting Times (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly in-work payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. An application for WFP was received from the person concerned on 13 March 2019. In order to process their application, further information is required from them. The Department wrote to the person concerned on 16 May 2019 to request additional details....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Tús Programme (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Tús commenced operation in 2011 as a response to the high level of unemployment and the large numbers on the Live Register. It is a community work placement initiative which aims to provide short-term work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year. The duration of the Tús contract is a maximum of 12 months and this ensures that as many people as possible who...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Payments (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. A statement of CA payments from 2 January 2014 to 1 November 2017 was issued to the person concerned on 20 May 2019. I...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) is a positive initiative that enables the long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling themselves and obtaining valuable work experience for prospective future employment. This scheme helps to break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market. CE schemes are typically...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement based on post Budget 2012 rate-bands. These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes provision for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (28 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence including that adduced at the oral hearing, has decided to disallow the carer's allowance appeal of the person concerned. The person concerned has been notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of...