Results 361-380 of 16,746 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a ceist. Reducing child poverty is a key priority for the Government. I agree with the Deputy that it is important to use data that is complete, accurate and can be tracked over time. The data on poverty used by my Department is the official data the Central Statistics Office, CSO, publishes in its annual survey on income and living conditions,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I absolutely agree with the Deputy that we need accurate figures. We have long used the consistent poverty measure as the national poverty benchmark. The recently agreed child poverty target of 3% or less is based on the consistent poverty measure, which is the critical measure of child poverty because it captures income-related and deprivation-related aspects. In addition, we use CSO...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Artificial Intelligence (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Over 3.5 million scheme applications were processed in 2024, with performance metrics meeting or exceeding the published targets in the majority of areas. This was achieved despite an ongoing increase in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Wage-setting Mechanisms (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is currently examining a new Working Age Payment and hopes to issue a public consultation on the issue later this year or early in 2026. An outline of a possible approach was already published in the consultation paper on the Pay Related Benefit model. Noting the work already done, the Programme for Government commits that any new Working Age Payment will ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government includes the commitment to explore a targeted child benefit payment and examine the interaction this would have with existing targeted supports like the Working Family and Child Support Payments. Officials in my Department are working on this commitment. This work is complex and will take time to get right. We need to ensure that any potential second tier...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Regulations 2024 came into effect on 28 April 2025. These new regulations apply to appeals where both the notice of appeal is received, and the decision under appeal is dated on or after this commencement date. The purpose of these updated regulations is to modernise and streamline the social welfare appeals process, providing greater clarity, improved...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government has agreed a number of commitments that are to be achieved over the lifetime of the Government. I am currently considering options for the Social Protection package as part of Budget 2026. Consideration and decisions in relation to any Social Protection measures as part of the Budget process will be taken in the context of overall funding available, the economic context...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: Among the key points made in the Indecon report on the cost of disability in Ireland was the fact that the costs of disability vary based on the type of disability a person has, and the impact that disability has on their daily lives - including through their needs for heating and lighting, transport, medication, therapies and treatment, housing adaptations, and education and employment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 103, 127 and 130 together. The Programme for Government includes a range of commitments in relation to supports for disabled people. This includes a commitment to introducing a permanent Annual Cost of Disability Support Payment with a view to incrementally increasing this payment. Our commitments in the Programme for Government will be advanced over the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: In line with the Programme for Government commitment, my Department is examining a new Working Age Payment. The Programme for Government commits that the Working Age Payment will ensure that individuals will always see an increase in income when they work or take on additional hours. It will do this by addressing inconsistencies and anomalies in the current Jobseeker's Allowance Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The setting of a new and ambitious Child Poverty Target is a commitment set out in the Programme for Government 2025: Securing Ireland’s Future. This commitment is also set out in the Government’s national strategy to reduce poverty, the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025. On 10th September last, based on these commitments, and a public consultation process that took...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. I am sure that the Deputy can appreciate how processing times can vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 107 and 113 together. Illness benefit is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class. People must have made the required number of contributions...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce the Automatic Enrolment (AE) Retirement Savings System. The aim of introducing AE is to address the pension coverage gap that exists in Ireland and to provide workers with greater comfort and security regarding their retirement income. The new system - to be known as My Future Fund - will commence from 1 January 2026. My...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 109 and 146 together. Means tests are a central part of any social welfare system in ensuring that limited resources are targeted at those who are most in need. Ireland's system of social transfers consistently ranks among the top performers in the European Union for poverty reduction. A key factor in this achievement is Ireland's use of means...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public transport services and and on private transport services operating the Free Travel scheme. There are over 1.1 million customers with direct eligibility for Free Travel. As part of Budget 2024, Free Travel was extended to people who are medically certified as unfit to drive. From 29th July 2024, the measure extended access...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is very aware of the difficulties that disabled people can face in entering and retaining employment. My Department provides a range of employment supports for disabled people in that regard. My Department's Intreo service is a single point of contact for all employment and income supports in the State. Disabled people can access mainstream employment schemes such as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Nutritional Standards for School Meals have been in place since the scheme's inception and were developed by a technical Nutrition Subgroups comprised of:Dieticians from the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute of Ireland,The HSE,Safefood, andThe Food Safety Authority of Ireland.These standards are available to all schools, organisations and suppliers and are publicly available on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department offers a range of employment schemes and other supports to encourage long-term unemployed people to return to work, while also assisting communities across the country in the provision of vital services. They are targeted at people who have been on an unemployment payment or certain other social welfare payments for a specific period of time. Community Employment (CE) and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Sep 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the differing eligibility criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of...