Results 5,221-5,240 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Legislative Reviews (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Section 18 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014 allows for discrimination on the grounds of age in respect of a prescribed class of persons in the provision of employment services and supports. The provisions in Section 18 facilitate the implementation of the Youth Guarantee, which was agreed by the European Council on 22 April 2013 to tackle the challenge of youth joblessness. My...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department provides a range of services and supports to assist people with disabilities in obtaining and sustaining employment. Many of these are national schemes rather than oriented at a specific area or region. First of all, my Department provides the Intreo service whose role includes the provision of support for people with a disability in reaching their employment ambitions....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Proposed Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Progressing legislation to protect the interests of workers has been one of my key objectives in 2018. I am very pleased therefore that the Employment Miscellaneous Provisions Bill will complete its passage this week and introduce important new protections - particularly for those workers in sectors where employment terms are perceived to be becoming more precarious. As deputies will be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The back to education allowance scheme (BTEA), operated by my Department, provides people with a second chance education that will improve their prospects of securing employment. It enables eligible people to pursue approved education courses and to continue to receive income support for the duration of a course of study, subject to meeting certain conditions. There are currently 9,200...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Pensions reform is a Government priority. The ‘Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-2023', which I launched in February this year, details specific time-lined actions Government will take to reform our pension system. This includes the introduction, from 2022, of an ‘Automatic Enrolment’ retirement savings system, for those without personal retirement savings. This project...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card Data (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The purpose of our identity registration process, known as SAFE 2, is to verify a person’s identity to a substantial level of assurance. This is a necessary step when providing access to valuable state services including the income supports provided by my Department. A Public Service Card (PSC) can issue when a person's identity is verified to SAFE 2 standard. In addition to acting...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Legislative Measures (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill completed Report and Final stages in the Seanad on 12 December, 2018. It is scheduled to be re-entered in the Dáil for final consideration at Report Stage this week, after which it will be submitted to the President. The Bill is an important piece of legislation with a particular focus on improving the security and predictability of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: A policy to introduce the Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pensions calculation was adopted by Government in the National Pensions Framework in 2010, as was the decision to base the entitlements of all new pensioners on this approach from around 2020. In advance of this, on the 23rd January this year, the Government agreed to a proposal that will allow pensioners affected by the 2012...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise as a consequence of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended). Where an overpayment is raised, the Department is obligated to make every effort to recover sums overpaid. All debts owing to the Department, are repayable in full. The Department does not apply...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Scheme trustees have duties and responsibilities under trust law, under the Pensions 1990, as amended, and under other relevant legislation. The duties of pension scheme trustees include administering the scheme in accordance with the law and the terms of the trust deed and scheme rules as well as ensuring compliance with the requirements that apply to these schemes. Trustees must act in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code Review (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: In assessing means for social assistance payments, account is taken of all income and property belonging to the claimant and his or her spouse or partner. Social welfare legislation provides that the yearly value of property (not including the family home) is assessable for means testing purposes by way of a formula set out in the legislation. In this regard, for most social assistance...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Drug Rehabilitation Projects (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: As the Deputy is aware, Community Employment (CE) aims to help the long-term unemployed to re-enter the workforce by breaking their cycle of unemployment through a return to a regular work routine and through the provision of training and development. The Department continues to support the objectives of the national drugs strategy “Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery”...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department transferred administration of the Illness Benefit scheme to its core IT platform in August 2018. Although the system change has worked effectively for over 80% of IB customers, significant difficulties arose following implementation for a number of customers. My Department took three main steps to resolve the issues impacting on payments. First, deployed additional staff...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Payments (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income from farming. Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally used as an indicator of the expected position in the following year. However, account is taken of any exceptional circumstances in order to ensure that the assessment accurately reflects the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Brexit Issues (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: My key area of interest is the impact of Brexit on the current reciprocal arrangements for social insurance schemes, social assistance schemes and child benefit between Ireland and the UK, including Northern Ireland. The dedicated team in my Department continues to conduct a deep analysis of all possible scenarios on a scheme by scheme basis and contingency planning is ongoing for all...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: In line with other EU and OECD jurisdictions where such measures feature, reduced rates were introduced to protect young people from welfare dependency by providing young jobseekers with a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training or to take up employment. Should a young jobseeker on a reduced jobseeker’s allowance payment participate on an education or...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: JobPath is a service which supports people who are long-term unemployed to secure and sustain full time paid employment. Two companies, Seetec and Turas Nua, have been contracted by my Department to deliver the service. The contracts are for six years, comprising two consecutive phases: phase one entails four years’ of client referrals, while phase two entails a ‘run...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Tax Forms (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Form MED 2 referred to by the Deputy appears to be a Revenue form used in connection with claiming certain medical expenses tax reliefs and as such does not fall within the remit of my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed as quickly as possible. Where any scheme area experiences delays, all possible steps are taken to improve processing times. This includes the assignment of additional resources, where available, and the review of business processes, to ensure the efficient...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme Eligibility (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 86 together. The rural social scheme (RSS) provides opportunities for farmers and fishermen / women who are currently in receipt of specified social welfare payments to work to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities. Communities benefit from the skills and talents of local farmers and fishermen and participants have the...