Results 4,301-4,320 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Budget 2009 provided for improvements in all weekly personal, qualified adult and qualified child rates of payment as well as improvements in family income supplement, back to school clothing and footwear allowance and the national fuel scheme. The amount provided in Budget 2009 for these improvements was €503 million.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Disability Allowance is a weekly Allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged over 16 and under 66. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a habitual residency test. Habitual Residency is intended to convey a degree of permanence of residing in a country, evidence by a regular...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: There is no record of an application for a PPS number having been made by the person concerned. Applications for PPS numbers are generally dealt with on the day the person attends the particular PPS Centre.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned was refused jobseeker's allowance on 3 February 2009. The deciding officer, having examined all the circumstances, considered that the person concerned did not satisfy the habitual residence condition as her centre of interest within Ireland and future intentions to remain in Ireland have not been clearly established, in view of her employment record here or any...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: In order to qualify for a range of Social Welfare payments, including Child Benefit, applicants are required to satisfy the Habitual Residence condition (HRC) which was introduced on 1 May 2004. The HRC requires the applicant to satisfy the deciding officer that they meet certain conditions, including that their centre of interest is in Ireland and that their future intentions, as...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Disability Allowance is a weekly Allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged over 16 and under 66. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a habitual residency test. The person concerned was awarded Disability Allowance on 2 October 1996 and is currently receiving the weekly...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Invalidity pension is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of an illness or incapacity and who satisfy certain social insurance (PRSI) contributions. To qualify for an invalidity pension a person must have a total of 260 weeks' PRSI contributions paid and 48 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the last complete tax year prior to application. The Department records...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned was in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance at the weekly rate of €197.80 up to 19th August, 2008. Payment was suspended on that date on receipt of information that the person was no longer living at his stated address. He failed to make contact with the office and the claim was subsequently closed. The person made a new application for Jobseekers Allowance on 21st...

Private Rented Accommodation. (11 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this issue and for acknowledging the importance of the scheme, the amount of money spent on it and the people who benefit from it. It is administered on behalf of the Department of Social and Family Affairs by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive, HSE. It is expected that accommodation occupied by rent supplement tenants should at...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 229 to 231, inclusive, together. The total number of jobseeker claims awaiting a decision at Mallow, Fermoy, Midleton, Youghal and Cobh local offices as at 1st February 2009 and the average processing time for claims decided in January 2009 are provided in the following table. The offices listed in the questions, with the exception of Cobh, are Branch...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (11 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: An application for disability allowance by the person concerned was disallowed by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 26 August 2008 following a review by a Medical Assessor who considered him to be medically unsuitable for the allowance. He appealed this decision and, in the context of this appeal, he was examined on 21 October 2008 by a different Medical Assessor who also expressed the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned applied for Carer's Allowance on 17 June 2008. On 3 October 2008 her claim was refused on the grounds that her means exceed the statutory limit for receipt of Carer's Allowance. She is assessed with means of €251.71 per week derived from income from her spouse's insurable employment. She was notified of this decision, the reasons for it and of her right to appeal to...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Employment under a contract of service as a miner is insurable for occupational injuries benefit under the Social Welfare Acts. Miners who are unable to work due to an accident arising from their employment may be entitled to occupational injury benefit for the first 26 weeks of their claim. The occupational injuries scheme, operated by the Department, provides entitlement to benefit for...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of my Department. Over 600 staff at local, regional and national level are engaged on a full or part-time basis on work related to the control of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system. Customers in receipt of social welfare payments are reviewed on an ongoing basis to verify...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 415 and 419 together. The Jobseeker's Benefit scheme provides income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative employment. A fundamental qualifying condition for the benefit is that a person must be available for full-time work. Under the Unemployment Benefit system a week is considered to be six days. Sunday is not considered...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as expeditiously as possible. The staff and other resources available to the Department are regularly reviewed having regard to the workload arising and other competing demands. Applicants for invalidity pension do...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Department of Social and Family Affairs offers a range of education and employment supports designed to assist and facilitate people on social welfare payments to return to the active labour force. The back to education allowance (BTEA) is the main education support scheme of the Department. It is designed to encourage people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Government's decision to integrate the Combat Poverty Agency and the Office for Social Inclusion within the Department of Social and Family Affairs was informed by a review of the Combat Poverty Agency undertaken on foot of a Government Decision on the 6th June 2007. The legislative provision to give effect to the Government's decision is contained in the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The claim for disability allowance, by the person concerned, was refused by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 3 October 2008 as she did not satisfy the medical conditions or the means test. An appeal was opened on 14 October 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 Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (10 Feb 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The person concerned is in receipt of a farm assist payment since 23 April 2007. He requested a review of his means assessment on 3 October 2008. A review of his entitlement has now been completed. His weekly means have been assessed at €157.00 by a Deciding Officer from 3 October 2008. His new weekly rate of payment is €182.90, which includes an increase in respect of his spouse. A...