Results 4,201-4,220 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Civil Registration: Civil Registration (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Statutory responsibility for the administration of Civil Registration in Ireland rests with an tArd-Chlaraitheoir (Registrar General). His Office, the General Register Office (GRO) is the central repository for records of life events occurring in the State, e.g. births, deaths, marriages, stillbirths and domestic adoptions. I have made enquiries of an tArd-Chlaraitheoir regarding the matter...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 302 and 303 together. Disability allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66 years. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to both a medical examination and a means test. The weekly rate of Disability Allowance payment depends on the amount of weekly means...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: One of the qualifying conditions for jobseeker's benefit and allowance is that a person must be unemployed, available for full-time employment and genuinely looking for work. Therefore, a day on which a person works, even if they are working for free, is not a day of unemployment. In this context "employed" means engaging in work that is paid work or is ordinarily paid work. There is,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The claim for disability allowance, by the person concerned, was refused by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 22 February 2008 on the grounds that his means exceeded the statutory limit. An appeal was opened on 29 September 2008, and I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that, in accordance with the statutory requirements, the Department was asked for the documentation in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Disability allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66 years. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to both a medical examination and a means test. The weekly rate of Disability Allowance payment depends on the amount of weekly means assessed. Means are assessed on the claimant's own means...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: No decisions have been made to change the conditions associated with carer's allowance or any of the 50 or so schemes administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Supporting and recognising carers in our society is, and has been, a priority of the Government since 1997. Over that period, weekly payment rates to carers have greatly increased, qualifying conditions for carer's...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The case reported on by the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) involves a couple who were over 56 years of age in 1988 when compulsory social insurance for the self-employed was introduced and who could not, therefore, satisfy one of the basic requirements for pension as they did not commence paying insurance 10 years before pension age. A special pension paid at half the personal rate and...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The habitual residence condition applies to all claimants for jobseeker's allowance, regardless of nationality. A person who is not habitually resident, whether an Irish national, an EU national or a national of another State, is not entitled to receive payment of this allowance. A detailed questionnaire is issued for completion in every case where the initial claim form does not contain...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Self-employed persons pay a modified rate of PRSI contribution (Class S). These contributions provide cover for long-term pensions such as state pension and widow's/widower's contributory pension. However they do not provide cover for short-term benefits such as jobseeker's and illness benefits. In certain cases, a self-employed person who had insurable employment in the relevant year...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The claim for disability allowance, by the person concerned, was disallowed by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 11 September 2008 following an examination by a Medical Assessor who expressed the opinion that she was medically unsuitable for the allowance. She appealed this decision on 24 September 2008 and she was examined by a second Medical Assessor on 22 December 2008 who also...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The Executive has advised that the person concerned had been in receipt of rent supplement since 1999. One of the conditions for receipt of the supplement is that landlord details must be supplied at the time of application. The person concerned...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes mortgage interest supplement, is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Mortgage interest supplement provides short-term support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence....

Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: There has been a substantial increase in the number of people applying for one parent family payment and other social welfare payments in recent months. As a result there has been an increase in the average time for processing claims. However, staff in social welfare offices have been working extremely hard to process claims as quickly as possible. The average processing times for one...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Self-employed workers are not insured against short-term benefits such as illness and jobseeker's payments — these are only available to persons covered by PRSI Classes A, E, H and P. Self-employed people are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 3% and are consequently eligible for a narrower range of benefits than general employees who, together with their employers, pay a total social...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The number of EU workers in receipt of Child Benefit for their non resident children at end February 2009 is 6,200, in respect of some 10,500 children. This equates to a monthly expenditure of €1.75m. The Early Childcare Supplement (ECS) is administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs on behalf of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The number of non...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Many commentators have expressed varying estimates as to the numbers on the Live Register over the coming year. However, it is not possible to make predictions with any degree of accuracy on the future loss of employment either nationally or in specific areas of the country. Even where it is known that there is to be a loss or reduction in employment in a particular area, this does not...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The education sector to which the Deputy refers includes not only teachers but also school bus drivers, school wardens and other school related employees. If they have no entitlement to payment of wages from their employer during school breaks then they are regarded as unemployed during those periods. As such, they are entitled to make a claim for jobseeker's benefit or allowance. It is...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department of Social and Family Affairs has a press office which deals with all media queries and public relations matters for the Department. Expenditure of €520 in November 2008 was incurred for a training course, provided by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) for a staff member on managing the press office. The five statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The number of people currently in receipt of mortgage interest supplement by county is shown in the following tabular statement. Recipients of Mortgage Interest Supplement by County at 20th February 2009 County No. Claims Carlow 238 Cavan 316 Clare 193 Cork 1,000 Donegal 197 Dublin 2,639 Galway 441 Kerry 171 Kildare 603 Kilkenny 212 Laois 79 Leitrim 19 Limerick 356 Longford...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (3 Mar 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Current estimates indicate that the abolition of the employer PRSI ceiling would yield some €223 million additional contribution income in a full year.