Results 4,781-4,800 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: CE supervisors and assistant supervisors made a claim, through their union representatives, for the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme. Although this issue relates to CE supervisors and assistant supervisors, such individuals comprise just one small group within the wider community and voluntary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Applications (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in-work payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. An application for WFP was received from the person concerned on 03 October 2018. Their application was referred to a local Social Welfare Officer (SWI) for further clarification. The relevant SWI has confirmed that the report will be completed shortly. On...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 601, 614 and 648 together. The Government and the EU remain committed to securing a negotiated Brexit outcome. We have been planning for all Brexit scenarios but in light of uncertainties in London and the Brexit deadline of 29 March, the Government decided at its meeting of 11 December that immediate priority must now be given to preparations for a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 603 and 604 together. The Department had an arrangement with pension companies where a person's pension had matured and the company had been unable to contact the person. The pension company provided a letter with the person's details and where the Department held a more recent address, the letter was forwarded on to the person at that address. This enabled...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Community employment (CE) is the largest employment programme administered by my Department. It aims to enhance the employability and mobility of disadvantaged and unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. In addition, it helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: According to the records of my Department, the person concerned has a total of 835 full-rate paid and credited contributions from 1962 to 2011 inclusive. This results in an assessed yearly average of 17 contributions, which qualifies the person for a state pension (contributory) rate of 75%, based on their Irish record. As the person was born before 1 September 1946, their entitlement was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Retained fire-fighters who are otherwise unemployed are entitled to a jobseeker’s payment in respect of days that they are engaged in fire-fighting or training, subject to the usual qualification conditions in relation to means or social insurance contributions. They are also required to satisfy the statutory conditions for the receipt of a jobseeker’s payment of being...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Appeals (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred on 8th January 2019 to an Appeals Officer who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Work Allowance Payments (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: This person concerned was awarded Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) from 6thAugust 2018. Following the six-month BTWEA review the case officer disallowed the claim stating that there is little evidence provided of activity and no evidence of incoming work. The case officer also noted that there is no business bank account, no evidence of invoicing or receipts in respect of income...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Government intends to introduce a Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to establishing the level of entitlement for all new state pension contributory claims from 2020 onwards (TCA2020). I launched a public consultation on the design of the full TCA to be introduced from 2020 on the 28th of May to which a wide variety of stakeholder groups were invited. A number of workshops were also...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Waiting Times (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Illness benefit is a short-term payment made to insured people who are unable to work due to illness. The payment is funded by the social insurance fund (SIF) through the payment of PRSI contributions by workers and employers and, in the event of a shortfall between contributions received and benefits paid, the Exchequer. The fund is central to Ireland’s system of social protection...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Wage Subsidy Scheme (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The rationale in relation to the Wage Subsidy Scheme (WSS) having a minimum of 21 subsidised hours is to increase the likelihood of people with disabilities obtaining and sustaining employment in the open labour market. It does this by providing financial incentives to private sector employers. To receive a wage subsidy, the private sector employer must offer employment to a person with a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement on post-Budget 2012 rate bands.  These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement on post-Budget 2012 rate bands.  These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation, which includes...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement on post-Budget 2012 rate bands.  These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation, which includes...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement on post-Budget 2012 rate bands.  These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation, which includes...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions Payments (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 90,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement on post Budget 2012 rate-bands.  These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Payments (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Illness Benefit claim for the person concerned overlapped with payment under another social welfare scheme. As  a result, the monetary difference between this payment and his  Illness Benefit payment had to be calculated. The Illness Benefit claim has now been processed and any arrears due have been issued. The person concerned has been paid...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: The concept of a universal basic income is of long-standing and argues for an unconditional transfer paid to everyone by the state, in place of large parts of the existing social protection system. Advocates of the approach argue that it would remove the need for complex means-testing for benefit receipts; allow for a greater flexibility in managing work, family and other responsibilities;...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions Payments (19 Feb 2019)

Regina Doherty: Since late September 2018, my Department has been examining the social insurance records of approximately 80,000 pensioners, born on or after 1 September 1946, who have a reduced rate State pension contributory entitlement on post Budget 2012 rate-bands.  These payments are being reviewed under a new Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pension calculation which includes...