Results 421-440 of 15,365 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Blind Pension is a means-tested payment provided by the Department to individuals who are blind or have a serious visual impairment and are habitually resident in the State. It is available to those aged 18 to 66 and requires medical certification of visual impairment. Due to low numbers of recipients when broken down by county, the counties of Leitrim, Longford, and Roscommon are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disablement Benefit is a payment provided by the Department under the Occupational Injuries Scheme. It is available to individuals who suffer a loss of physical or mental capacity due to a work-related accident, a direct commute-related accident, or a prescribed occupational disease. Quarterly data on the number of persons receiving Disablement Benefit is set out in the table below. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Injury Benefit is a weekly payment from the Department provided under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme to employees who are unfit for work due to an accident at work, while commuting directly to or from work, or from an occupational disease. To qualify, the individual must be employed under certain PRSI classes and be medically certified as unfit for work for more than three days....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Quarterly statistics on recipients of Illness Benefit, including a breakdown by county, is published in open data format as part of the Department's Quarterly Statistics report which is available at www.gov.ie/en/department-of-social-protection/collections/qu arterly-statistics/#quarterly-statistical-open-data . These figures are set out in the table below. County Q12020...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly, non-means-tested payment of €360 provided by the Department to support parents or guardians caring for a child under 16 with a severe disability. Quarterly data on the number of persons receiving Domiciliary Care Allowance is set out in the table below. County Q12020 Q12021 Q12022 Q12023 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The scheme operates from June to September each year. The allowance is payable in respect of eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a Child Support Payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The estimated cost of a once-off €100 payment to recipients of the One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transitional payment is €6.3 million. The One-Parent Family Payment is a means-tested payment for men and women who are bringing up a child, or children, without the support of a partner. The individual must also have main care and charge of at least one child who is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. In Budget 2025, it was announced that the Hot School Meals will be extended to all remaining primary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Child Benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 19th birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Budget 2025 provided for two Child Benefit double payments to be paid before the end of 2024. As a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Legal Services (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: As indicated in my previous reply on the 14th May, the definition of a surviving qualified cohabitant contained in the Bill is aligned with the definition of qualifying cohabitants contained in the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (“the 2010 Act”). This definition provides for a couple to become qualified cohabitants where they have...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Offices (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Intreo Centres are a single point of contact for all employment and income supports. The Centres are designed to provide a streamlined approach, offering practical, tailored employment and financial services and supports to customers. These services are provided through the medium of Irish if this is the preference of the person availing of the service. People from the Gaeltacht...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a service 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. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Illness benefit is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class. People must have made the required number of contributions under PRSI classes A, E, H or P to qualify. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person referred to by the Deputy has been awarded Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit, which is not affected by the income of the person's spouse. Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit is a new social insurance income support which has replaced the Jobseeker's Benefit scheme for people who are fully unemployed. A person must meet the required PRSI contribution conditions in order to qualify...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Child Benefit is a universal monthly payment to support families with children under 18. Recipients of Child Benefit statistics are not available by electoral divisions geography. Quarterly statistics on recipients of Child Benefit, including a breakdown by county, is published in open data format as part of the Department's Quarterly Statistics report which is available at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Question Heading for question(s) 937 (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: In November 2022 the European Commission made a non-binding recommendation on the recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease. The Commission did not make a recommendation in relation to Long COVID. Recognition as an occupational disease confers different entitlements in different Member States, with employers paying the compensation in some countries and social insurance systems...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: As part of the “Make Work Pay” iniative persons who moves directly from certain long term Social Protection schemes to employment are entitled to retain their Free Travel entitlement for a further period of 5 years, where they previously had the entitlement to Free Travel on the scheme. Any decision to expand this iniative and allow people with intellectual disabilities and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance is my Department's primary disability related social assistance scheme. Disability Allowance is a means-tested payment for people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66. In order to be eligible, the disability must be expected to last for at least one year. The allowance is also subject to a means test, a medical assessment and a habitual residency requirement....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Assisted Decision-Making (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Employability service is open to all people with disabilities including those recovering from injury or illness, who are eager to enter or return to the workplace and need the support of a Job Coach. It is not restricted to persons in receipt of Social Welfare payments. The service is available to people between the ages of 18 years and 65 years who are recovering from injury or...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Sectoral interventions for the film and television industry are matters for my colleague, the Minister for Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. The Professional Artist Scheme under Jobseeker’s Allowance provides support for unemployed artists whereby they are exempt from labour market activation for up to 12 months to focus on their profession. The other conditions...