Results 5,241-5,260 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

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

Regina Doherty: As you are aware, the General Scheme of the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2017 (now the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017), was published in May 2017 and contained a number of key measures relating to DB pension schemes. It is intended that these measures will act to support existing provisions in the Pensions Act by providing for further protection for scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension Eligibility (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: To qualify for a widow(er)’s or surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension, the surviving spouse must be deemed, under Irish law, to be the legal widow(er) of the deceased. The legislative provisions pertaining to the recognition of divorces outside the State are set out in Section 5 of the Domicile and Recognition of Foreign Divorces Act, 1986. In order for a foreign...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Payments (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. In general, social welfare schemes with a number of complex qualifying conditions can take longer to process. Where any scheme area experiences delays, all possible steps are taken to improve processing times. This includes the...

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

Regina Doherty: A number of methods, or a combination of methods, may be used to recover debt due to the Department where a customer is deemed to have been overpaid under any benefit or assistance scheme. These methods include: - deduction from ongoing and future social welfare payments; - withholding arrears of social welfare payments; - offset against other entitlements; - payment by lump sum(s); -...

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

Regina Doherty: Illness Benefit is a scheme under which people who are unable to work due to illness or injury are entitled to receive a weekly payment from the Social Insurance fund. The basic rate of payment for a single person is €198 per week. Entitlement to the payment, which may be made for a period of up to two years, is contingent on a person’s social insurance record and been...

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

Regina Doherty: Penalty rates were introduced as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, including implementing sanctions for failure to engage. The legislation underpinning the...

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

Regina Doherty: As you are aware, the General Scheme of the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2017 (now the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017), was published in May 2017 and contained a number of key measures relating to DB pension schemes. It is intended that these measures will act to support existing provisions in the Pensions Act by providing for further protection for scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Credit Union Lending (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Personal Micro Credit Scheme (PMC) provides for small scale loans, known as It Makes Sense loans, by credit unions to borrowers who have difficulty accessing low cost credit. The rollout and extension of the Personal Micro Credit Scheme, is among the commitments in the Programme for a Partnership Government 2016. The aim of the scheme is to move people away from the use of high cost...

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

Regina Doherty: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of meals for disadvantaged school children through two schemes - the statutory Urban School Meals Scheme (USMS) and the non-statutory School Meals (Local Projects) scheme (SMLPS). Both schemes provided food to some 1,580 schools and organisations benefitting 250,000 children at a total cost of €54 million in 2018...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policy Functions (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: As the Deputy is aware, one of the primary relationships that my Department has is with the Revenue Commissioners. Accordingly, the Department liaises bilaterally with the Revenue Commissioners through a joint DEASP/Revenue High Level Group (HLG) which was formally configured in 2010 and meets on a quarterly basis. The group comprises senior management from both organisations and its...

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

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to ensuring that claims for its pension schemes are processed as expeditiously as possible. However, claims for means-tested payments, in particular, remain a challenge and given their nature can require more detailed engagement with the applicant, thereby lengthening the decision making process. State pension non-contributory (SPNC) is a means tested pension with...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Respite Care Grant Data (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Carer’s Support Grant is paid annually by my Department, on the 1stThursday in June, to persons in receipt Carers Allowance or Carers Benefit or Domiciliary Care Allowance. Payment is on an automatic basis to these people. Over 90% of all payments of the grant are made on this date. A carer who is not in receipt of one of these payments can still qualify for the grant, once they...

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

Regina Doherty: I am aware of the pressing need to make technical amendments to the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 including those sections in Part 9 that provide for the registration and re-registration of the birth of a donor-conceived child and, in particular, make possible the registration of details of “Parent”, as well as “Mother” and “Father”,...

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

Regina Doherty: The Sligo Job Club provides supports to job-ready unemployed people mainly through formal workshops, one-to-one engagements with individual jobseekers and the preparation and review of Curriculum Vitae. The Job Club service in Co Sligo is currently provided by Sligo Leader Partnership Company Ltd under a 12-month fixed term contract with my Department which is due to expire on 31stDecember...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly tax-free payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. An application for WFP was received from the person concerned on 30 October 2018. The applicant has been awarded WFP with effect from 01 November 2018 to 30 October 2019. The first payment and all arrears owing will issue to their nominated bank...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The table below provides the details which have been requested by the Deputy for the years 2016 to 2017 and to the end of November 2018. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. I trust...

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

Regina Doherty: My Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State. In 2017, some 1.7 million applications for benefits, assistance and access to schemes were received and processed, and over 82 million individual payments were made to people across all age groups and to employers. The Department is committed to ensuring that members...

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

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 16th October 2018. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these papers are received from the Department, the case in question will be referred...

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

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 26th September 2018. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these papers have been received from the Department the case in question will be...