Results 4,021-4,040 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

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

Heather Humphreys: 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. The numbers of Carer's Allowance claims where payment ceased in the years 2019, 2020, 2021 2022 and to date in 2023 are...

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

Heather Humphreys: Under current eligibility conditions, an individual must have at least 520 full-rate paid contributions in order to qualify for standard State Pension (Contributory). If a person was employed in another EU Member State, or in a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement, their entitlement to a pro-rata state pension (contributory) based on a combination of their...

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

Heather Humphreys: State Pension (Contributory) is a payment a person may qualify for at 66 years of age if they have enough Irish social insurance contributions. At the end of November 2023 there were 505,475 persons in receipt of State Pension (Contributory). The number of recipients has risen steadily over the past ten years, as outlined in the below table for each calendar year 2013 to 2022. ...

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

Heather Humphreys: State pension non-contributory is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. At end-November 2023, there were 100,065 (personal rate) recipients of state pension non-contributory. The table below...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision-making functions. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that significant efforts and resources have been devoted to improvements in the...

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

Heather Humphreys: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department can make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. Additional Needs Payments are an overarching term used to refer to Exceptional and Urgent Needs Payments, and certain other Supplements available to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from a...

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

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to everybody. This includes ensuring that Disability Allowance applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Disability Allowance (DA) has a number of complex qualifying conditions and can take longer to process. Before a decision can be made on an entitlement to DA, evidence must be...

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

Heather Humphreys: Invalidity Pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and for no other reason and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. The average processing target for the IP scheme is to award 90% of applications within 10 weeks. The following table outlines the average weeks to award an IP...

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

Heather Humphreys: My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are processed quickly and efficiently. Processing times for new applications 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 illness-related schemes, can take...

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

Heather Humphreys: In September 2022, I announced a series of landmark reforms to the State Pension system. The measures are in response to the Pensions Commission’s recommendations and represent the biggest ever structural reform of the Irish State Pension system. One of the measures I announced is the introduction of flexibility to the State Pension (Contributory) from 1 January 2024. This will...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a range of supports which are available to Women’s Sheds, depending on the works being completed. The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) has provided supports to 62 Women’s Sheds, for example in facilitating training courses and holding focus groups. To date the programme also awarded small grants totalling over €10,000...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Policies (7 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Each year my Department produces an Annual Report which provides a comprehensive overview of the wide range of policies, programmes and initiatives developed and delivered by the Department in the previous year. These reports are available at www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-rural-and-community -development/ and the 2023 Annual Report will most likely be published in Quarter 3 of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult in need of full-time care and attention. To qualify, the Carer must satisfy PRSI conditions; employment conditions; show that they are providing full-time care and attention; and show that the care recipient requires full-time care and attention....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: A Christmas Bonus payment of 100% of the appropriate weekly amount is to be paid to all recipients of long-term Social Welfare Payments, subject to a minimum Bonus payment of €20. As announced in Budget 2024, Customers in receipt of Jobseeker’s Payments who have been on these payments for 12 months / 312 Claim Paid Days (CPD) or more will receive a Christmas Bonus. In this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Disablement Benefit is part of the Occupational Injuries Benefit scheme. This scheme caters for people injured or incapacitated by an accident at work or while travelling to or from work. The scheme also covers people who have contracted a disease as a result of the type of work they do. Disablement Benefit is a compensation payment and can be paid alongside other social welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Illness Benefit is a payment for people who cannot work due to illness and who satisfy the pay-related social insurance contribution conditions. Illness Benefit is paid for a maximum of two years and is classified as a short-term scheme. Only people in receipt of Illness Benefit for at least one year and that are also receiving an increase for a child are entitled to the €100 per...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Treatment Benefit Scheme provides dental, optical and aural services to insured workers, the self-employed, retired people and their dependent spouse/partner who have the required number of social insurance (PRSI) contributions. In order to qualify, a person needs to have at least 260 PRSI contributions paid at either Class A, E, H, P or S since first starting work, and also have 39...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 21 May 2023. In order to qualify for standard State pension (contributory), an individual must have 520 full-rate paid contributions. According to the records of my Department, the person concerned has 347 reckonable contributions. As they do not have the required 520 full rate paid contributions, they do not qualify for State pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that significant efforts and resources have been devoted to improvements in the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (6 Dec 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The LEADER programme is a key intervention implemented by my Department, which will help to underpin the Government's rural development goals as outlined in Our Rural Future. It forms part of Ireland's €10bn Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan. Funding for the LEADER Programme is provided for the duration of the programme rather than on an annual basis to allow more...