Results 3,961-3,980 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I, like others, are aware of calls being made arising from the terrible events in Dublin just over a week ago for prompt action to punish wrongdoers and deter further acts of violence and aggression. We were all horrified at the scenes that unfolded and are concerned to do all we can to prevent such scenes recurring. However, we need to be careful not to rush to judgement or make assumptions...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Living Alone Increase is an extra payment for recipients of certain social welfare payments who live alone. It is an increase of €22 per week. The Household Benefits Package comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. Both these payments are widely available to those aged over 66 and who satisfy certain qualifying or age criteria. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Pension Commission set out a wide range of recommendations, including changes to PRSI contributions, the State pension age and flexible access to the State Pension. In September 2022, following detailed examination and consideration of the Commission’s Report the Government published its response. A key feature was improved access to the State pension for long-term carers. Since...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Guardians Payments scheme, first introduced in 1936, was originally called orphan’s payment. It was renamed guardian’s payment in July 2006, in recognition of the fact that the original remit of the scheme had been extended to include certain children who had not lost both parents through bereavement. The payment is made to a person caring for a child who satisfies the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: My department provides a suite of income supports to those who cannot work due to illness or disability. It is important to note that eligibility for these payments is generally not dependent on the type of the illness or disability but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work. My department also provides a range of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 111, 118 and 148 together. This Government acknowledges the important role that carers play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the current State Pension (Contributory) system provides measures including PRSI credits, Homemaking Disregards and HomeCaring Periods to recognise caring periods of up to 20 years outside of paid...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The extension of Child Benefit to 18-year-olds in full-time education was one of my key priorities as part of Budget 2024. The measure is expected to benefit approximately 60,000 18-year-olds each year at an estimated cost of €21.6 million in 2024. With many children now starting primary school at age 5, together with the increase in pupils doing transition year, there has been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Consultations (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 113, 121 and 149 together. The Government committed as part of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion to develop and consult on proposals to restructure long-term disability payments and to simplify the system. The proposals developed are set out in the Green Paper on Disability Reform. This was published on 20 September and marked the start of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I recently secured the approval of Government to proceed with design proposals for a new Pay-Related Benefit for jobseekers. The design of the scheme approved by Government was informed by an extensive consultative process following the publication of a Strawman document in December 2022. The Strawman document also set out the parameters of a new Working Age Payment. This is in line...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: My department provides a number of income supports for those who are unable to work due to illness or disability. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes. In Budget 2024, I announced a number of measures to further address the poverty faced by those with disabilities, including a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Procurement Contracts (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: My Department issued a Request for Tender (RFT) for the provision of contracted public employment services for people with disabilities on 14 September 2023, with a closing date of 20 November. Bids were requested for 23 geographic lots. An evaluation of the bids received in respect of all 23 lots is underway at present. Where a particular lot will be vacant on 1 January 2024 it is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: There are a number of payments and pensions paid by my Department to people over State Pension Age. One of these is the State Pension (Contributory) (SPC), qualification for which is based on a number of criteria, including a minimum of 520 qualifying social insurance contributions having been paid. For those who have paid the required contributions, these will be used in the calculation of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parking Provision (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Tully for the question. Accommodation for my Department is provided by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in buildings which are either State owned or leased by the OPW on our behalf. The accommodation is typically shared with other Government Departments and Offices with limited car parking spaces available to staff. This has been brought to the attention of the Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. There are over one million customers with direct eligibility. The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2023 is €95 million. The Free Travel Scheme is available to all persons aged over 66 and those under age 66 on certain qualified payments, who are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I was pleased that Budget 2024 included a social welfare package worth almost €2.3 billion, the largest in the history of the State. This extensive package includes a number of measures which will benefit lone parents. In December, recipients of One-Parent Family Payment, Jobseeker's Transitional payment and others will receive a lump sum payment of €100 in respect of each...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Department's Activation and Family Support Programme provides funding to assist local organisations and agencies implement training and education initiatives to address the needs of recipients of welfare payments and their families who are distant from the labour market. The Activation and Family Support Programme provided co-funding to 10 organisations in 2022 to support 16...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly allowance payable to a parent/guardian in respect of a child aged under 16, who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention in the home, that is substantially over and above the level of care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and the child must be likely to require this level of care for at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly allowance payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of that disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Legislative Measures (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Report of the Child Maintenance Review Group was published last November and the Government has accepted the Group's recommendations regarding the social welfare system. These changes will decouple child maintenance and social welfare and are significant reforms, which will be of great benefit to lone parents. As a consequence, child maintenance payments will be disregarded in the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Public Employment Service (PES) offers a range of supports to help Jobseekers secure and sustain employment. The service is delivered, through Employment Personal Advisers (EPA) and Job Coaches (JC) who offer an individualised employment service delivered mainly via one-on-one engagements. In these engagements the EPA/JC will work with the Jobseeker to identify their...