Results 4,081-4,100 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Family Support Services. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I will be happy to discuss the review group's proposals with the committee at the appropriate time. I found discussions with the committee to be useful in the past. Deputy Penrose is correct that this is a complex area. When removing poverty traps and attempting to build incentives, one has to be careful not to create other poverty traps. That has bedevilled the system for some time. I am...

Family Support Services. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I acknowledge the excellent work of One Family and my Department has taken account of its submissions in the past. Localisation is well under way, with 19 local offices processing one parent family payment claims in an attempt to bring the individual closer to the service. That system will be fully rolled out to ensure all one parent payments are localised. There were also improvements in the...

Family Support Services. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I am not referring to service officers but attempting to devise a system whereby we can intervene individually with lone parents. The NESF report concentrated on the broader family services. There is an action programme for combating child poverty. On a broad level, higher employment obviously helps because employment is the key to dealing with this. We have increased child benefit...

Family Support Services. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: It has been increased substantially and total welfare payments have doubled in five or six years.

Family Support Services. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: As I have stated many times, welfare payments take a third of the State's budget.

Family Support Services. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Substantial funds are going to low-income families. However, I accept the Deputy's point. Despite the expenditure, there are too many children at risk of poverty, regardless of whether the figure is the 66,000 quoted in one study or the 120,000 quoted in another. That is the reason we are trying to design something that will target them. All the reports, however, indicate that there is a...

Personal Debt. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: My Department has overall responsibility for the money advice and budgeting service, MABS, which provides assistance to people who are over indebted. A total of €13.6 million in funding has been allocated to MABS in 2005. The service is targeted at those who are on low income or are in receipt of social welfare payments and also those with poor literacy and numeracy skills. There are 52...

Personal Debt. (19 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I accept the Deputy's point. For the present, however, it is best to work through the MABS. A total of €64 million has been provided to the service since 1992. The figure for this year is €13.62 million. The first half of 2004 saw an increase in the numbers calling to MABS offices, when approximately 8,500 clients used the service during that period. There was an increase from 9,000 in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (14 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The executive has advised that the person concerned applied for supplementary welfare allowance after she left her direct provision accommodation at the end of December 2004. Her application was refused on the statutory grounds that she was not habitually...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: One of the qualifying conditions for one parent family allowance is that a person be separated for at least three months. On examining the application of the person concerned, it was noted that she separated from her partner on 10 March 2005 and, therefore, her claim cannot be considered at this time. If the circumstances of the person concerned do not change before 10 June 2005 it will be...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The position remains as set out in my reply to Question No. 174, which I answered for the Deputy on 25 November 2004. The relevant office of the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive has again advised that it has no record of an application for rent supplement from the person concerned. If he wishes to apply for a rent supplement he should contact the community welfare...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: In budget 2005, I announced the extension of the respite care grant scheme to all carers providing full-time care to an older person or a person with a disability, regardless of means and subject to certain qualifying conditions. The respite care grant will continue to be payable to recipients of carer's allowance, carer's benefit, prescribed relative allowance, constant attendance allowance...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme assists persons in receipt of certain payments when children start school each autumn. The scheme operates from the beginning of June to the end of September each year and is administered on my behalf by the Health Service Executive. In 2004, 70,577 applications were approved under the scheme which benefited some 152,400 children at a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned was awarded the household benefits package, including the free lifetime television licence, and An Post was informed accordingly. The address on the An Post database for the person concerned did not match the address forwarded by my Department and the licence issued to the address held by An Post. My Department has contacted An Post which has amended its records and a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Settlements: Social Welfare Settlements (13 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The position in this instance is that an out of court settlement was reached in the case of one Waterford docker without any implication of liability on behalf of my Department. The settlement applied to the person concerned alone and does not apply in the case of other dockers.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 511, 513, 517, 527, 542 and 546 together. My Department's policy is to ensure that a range of payment options is available to customers and that service is continually improved by providing access to the wide range of payment options and new services and facilities now available. Current payment methods include payment at post offices by means of a pension...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders in receipt of long-term social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their extra heating needs during the winter season. A fuel allowance of €9 per week is paid to eligible households, with an additional €3.90 per week being paid in designated urban smokeless zones, bringing the total amount in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: Rent supplements are provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. In general, rent supplement is payable where applicants are assessed by a housing authority as being homeless, or have an unmet housing need, and where they are unable to meet their accommodation needs through...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The Dublin-mid-Leinster area of the executive has advised that the person concerned had initially been awarded supplementary welfare allowance pending the outcome of an application by him for unemployment assistance. He subsequently applied to the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Apr 2005)

Séamus Brennan: I understand that this question relates to arrangements to have a social worker visit the person concerned to discuss her circumstances. The provision and deployment of social worker services is a matter for the Health Service Executive and the Deputy should raise the matter with the executive directly, or with my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children who has overall responsibility...