Results 4,261-4,280 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: There are no staff in my Department, or the Agencies under its aegis, who are remunerated at a rate that is in excess of a benchmarking recommendation or a recommendation from the Review Body on Higher Remuneration. All the staff in question are paid on the appropriate civil/public service payscales, as sanctioned by the Department of Finance.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive (HSE) as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The HSE has advised, that according to its records, it has not received an application for rent supplement from the person concerned. The person should contact the community welfare officer in his area so that...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned has been awarded jobseeker's allowance with effect from 20 October, 2008. A payment of €3,074.50, which will include all arrears due, will issue to her on 20 February, 2009. Her current weekly rate of payment is €204.30. Her weekly rates of payment since the date of her claim are based on a means assessment of €97.00, derived from benefit of parental income, for...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (18 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department has a major programme of business, organisational and technological change underway to enable it to modernise the services that it provides to its customers. Maximising the potential of information technology is a significant aspect of this change programme and external firms are used to assist the Department in undertaking this work. The information requested by the Deputy...

Written Answers — Official Travel: Official Travel (18 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Information on foreign travel expenditure for the bodies under the Department's remit has now been compiled and is set out in the following table. Name of Statutory Body Total spent on foreign travel in 2008 (including subsistence) â'¬ Combat Poverty Agency *9,268 The Pensions Board *9,000 Office of the Pensions Ombudsman 2,200 Citizens Information Board 185 Family Support Agency...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (18 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The social security rights of people living and working in the EU are governed by EU Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72. The Regulations co-ordinate social security systems and are designed to ensure that people are not disadvantaged by moving within the EU to take up work. The regulations set out the rules as to which State's social security system a person will pay contributions to when s/he...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (18 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Pensions Board is the only regulatory body operating under the aegis of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The statutory role of the Board is to monitor and supervise the operation of the Pensions Act 1990. This involves the regulation of occupational pension schemes and Personal Retirement Savings Accounts and the provision of advice to the Minister for Social and Family...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (18 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned applied for a jobseeker's benefit payment on 15 January, 2009. Despite requests he has not yet provided his P45 or a letter from his employer stating the date of termination of his employment. When all of the required information is received a decision will be made on his claim and he will be notified of the outcome. Under Social Welfare legislation decisions in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (18 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 195 and 196 together. With the increase in the number of people applying for unemployment payments in particular, staff in social welfare offices have been working extremely hard to process claims as quickly as possible. Productivity has increased significantly. Nearly 155,000 claims were processed in Local Offices in the last quarter of 2008 (including the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (18 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: As advised in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 977 of 27 January 2009, the person concerned has indicated to the community welfare officer that she is no longer in receipt of maintenance payments. The Health Service Executive has advised the person concerned that it requires a statement from the solicitor of the father of her child, which indicates what maintenance payments, if any, are...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: According to the Central Statistics Office, it is estimated that supplementary pension coverage for workers in general was 54% in the first quarter of 2008 and, for the key target group, those aged 30 years and over, stood at 61%. Almost all Irish public sector workers are members of occupational pension schemes. When public sector workers are removed from the coverage figures above, it can...

Written Answers — Death Certificates: Death Certificates (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The administration of the Civil Registration Service is statutorily a matter for the Registrar General. I have had enquiries made with the Registrar General and he has informed me that the position is as follows: When a person dies, it is the duty of a relative of the deceased to act as qualified informant. This means that the relative must give to a registrar of births, deaths and...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: A total of 441,168 PPS numbers were issued to non-EU nationals from mid-June 2000 to end of January 2009 of which 37,195 issued in 2008 and 2,533 were issued in January 2009. The majority of applications for a PPS numbers are from people living in the State. A small number of PPS numbers are issued to people residing outside the State. These numbers are issued mainly, to people applying...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The policy in relation to SSIAs and social welfare payments has not been changed in recent times. In assessing means for social assistance purposes, account is taken of any cash income the person may have, together with the value of capital and property (except the family home). Capital may include the following: Stocks and shares of every description, which are assessed according to their...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The claim for disability allowance, by the person concerned, was refused by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 25 August 2008 on the grounds that he did not satisfy the statutory means assessment for eligibility to this allowance. An appeal was opened on 24 September 2008 and I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the case was considered by an Appeals Officer on 24...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme. Expenditure on rent supplement was €392m in 2007 and €441m in 2008. The following tabular statement shows the number of recipients of rent supplement by county and Dublin postal codes at the end of 2008. Recipients of Rent Supplement...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 341 and 355 together. The Family Support Agency provides funding through a Scheme of Grants to voluntary and community organisations providing marriage and relationship counselling, marriage preparation courses, child counselling in relation to parental separation and bereavement counselling and support on the death of a family member. The focus of the scheme...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is designed to provide support for people with families who are on low earnings. This preserves the incentive for them to remain in employment in circumstances where they might only be marginally better off than if they were claiming other social welfare payments. In terms of the amount of work required to qualify for FIS, the customer must be in paid...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The purpose of the scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (17 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: In late 2007, the Department identified a number of cases where non-Irish nationals were living in their native country and returning to Ireland on a monthly basis to sign for jobseekers payments. Arising from this, the Department undertook a number of small scale residency checks on non-Irish nationals in receipt of jobseekers payment. Between October 2007 and February 2008 some 766 cases...