Results 5,201-5,220 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Disability Services (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Indecon cost of disability report, among other strategies and commitments, is feeding into the preparation of a straw man reform proposal on disability payments. Work on the straw man is at an advanced stage. All stakeholders and members of the public will be invited to make submissions on some of the straw man proposals. We are looking at a complete overhaul of the disability...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: During Covid, it was agreed across the EU that teleworkers could work from home all the time and remain paying their social insurance contributions in the state of their employer. This temporary agreement has now ended and a new voluntary framework agreement for teleworking has been drafted by the administrative council, which is responsible for co-ordinating social security across the EU....

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: My predecessor signed agreements with the UK around Brexit. In fairness, we have a good few reciprocal agreements regarding social welfare contributions and pensions, etc. I have to acknowledge that. In this particular case, the UK has indicated it will not sign up for this agreement. Nevertheless, that does not stop us from having conversations. The Deputy is talking specifically about...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Disability Services (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. My Department provides a wide range of income and employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, as well as their employers. I am committed to improving targeted employment supports where disabled people are facing additional challenges accessing work. The reasonable accommodation fund is one of these supports which...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Disability Services (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this because that is what I want to do. I want to get more people to know about it. I want more employers to take it up and I want more employees to benefit from it. The money is there. We have published a consultation, as I said, on the reasonable accommodation fund. We want more people to use it. There has been a very good response so far. If I need to...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Social Welfare Payments (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I think that any fair-minded person would agree that this Government has, since its formation in 2020, provided unprecedented supports to protect people and families, first through the pandemic and then with the cost of living. I will just give Deputy Murphy an example. We can all get tied up in statistics but what I want to see is money in pockets. If we take a lone parent with a...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Social Welfare Payments (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: If we are going to compare statistics, analysis by the ESRI shows that, combined with the increase in the core social welfare payment rates, these lump sums effectively compensated lower income households for price increases and, in fact, were more effective than an index-linked increase in core rates. I reiterate that what I want to see is money in people's pockets when they need it to pay...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Northern Ireland (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Responsibility for Government policy on remote working lies with my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. As the Deputy may be aware, under current social security arrangements, it is open to workers resident in Northern Ireland who are working with a southern-based company to work from home one day per week and to remain attached to the PRSI system here. If they...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Poverty Impact Assessment (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: No.

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Poverty Impact Assessment (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: To clarify what was paid, in 2022, a single retired person on the contributory State pension received €200 in electricity credit in April 2022 and a €125 lump-sum payment was made to those receiving fuel allowance, as well as a €100 lump-sum payment to households in receipt of lump-sum payments. That gives a total of €225, with one payment in March and one in May....

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Poverty Impact Assessment (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Regarding fuel, I expanded the fuel allowance to the over 70s and increased the means test to €500 for single people and €1,000 for a couple. This has brought many more older people into the net where they can benefit from the fuel allowance. I do not want to see any old person being afraid to turn on the heating. This is not where we want to be. Extensive renovations are...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Social Welfare Payments (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I am acutely aware, as everyone is, of the pressures faced by households given increases in the cost of living. Thankfully, this Government's management of the Irish economy means that even in the face of challenging international conditions, we have the capacity to respond, and we have responded. Last September, I announced the largest social protection budget in the history of the State...

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Poverty Impact Assessment (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for her question. A core objective of my Department is the reduction of poverty. The at-risk-of-poverty rate is a relative income poverty measure, tracking the national equivalised median income as it rises and falls. In other words, it compares each person's income to the income of the person in the middle of the income distribution. For a person to be...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Social Welfare Eligibility (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. First of all, no money has been taken from anybody. I will read the reply I have, which explains exactly how this situation arose. My Department provides a wide range of income supports and employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities. The partial capacity benefit, PCB, scheme allows a person in receipt of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Social Welfare Eligibility (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: No.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Social Welfare Eligibility (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: To clarify, this was a genuine error on the part of the Department and it will be rectified. As I have said, as Minister for the Department, that I apologise for the error. Officials had understood that the living alone allowance should not be paid in tandem with PCB. Upon further review, it is now clear that PCB customers should retain their living alone allowance when moving from an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Social Welfare Eligibility (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Some 180 PCB claimants are in receipt of the living alone allowance. This allowance is paid at the same percentage as PCB. Some 13 claimants have a 100% PCB weekly entitlement while 58 claimants have a 75% PCB weekly entitlement and 109 have a 50% weekly entitlement. Letters issued to all 180 throughout June 2023 informing them that PCB was not a qualifying scheme. It is now clear that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Nobody should be going without food. The additional needs payment is available and people can apply for it. It is there to be paid out and I encourage people, if they are in any sort of difficulty such as the Deputy mentioned, to go to their community welfare officer or make a telephone call. There is an online presence as well. I do not want to hear about anybody going without food....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: As Minister for Social Protection, I fully recognise the challenges the increased cost of living has brought to many households. Last September, I announced the largest social protection budget in the history of the State, comprising measures worth almost €2.2 billion. The budget was innovative in providing a mixture of eight lump sum payments, delivered in late 2022, and a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments (6 Jul 2023)

Heather Humphreys: We must take all the available supports into consideration. I offer an example of a lone parent with a 12-year-old child. Such parents will have received all the electricity credits last year, the lump sums under the fuel allowance of €125 and €100, and €100 for each child under the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. In autumn 2022, there was the double...