Results 5,261-5,280 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

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

Regina Doherty: The most recent data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2017, published this week, shows that the consistent poverty rate for children in 2017 was 8.8%. This is a reduction on the 2016 figure of 10.9%. The 2017 at-risk-of-poverty rate for children was 18.4%, a slight reduction on the 2016 figure of 19.1% while the deprivation rate was 23.0%, down from 25.0% in 2016. It should...

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

Regina Doherty: The information requested is currently being compiled within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

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

Regina Doherty: In the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), disability is based on the concept of global activity limitation. This is defined as a “limitation in activities people usually do because of health problems for at least the past six months”. The most recent available EU-SILC data from 2016 shows that the rate for people (aged 16 years and over) at risk of...

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

Regina Doherty: The CSO is the responsible authority for collecting and disseminating information in relation to statistics on demography and labour market. The Department of Employment Affairs does not collect information in relation to employment rates for people with disability or other groups and relies on CSO sources for this information. According to Census 2016, the number of people with...

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

Regina Doherty: The most recently available data on the severe material deprivation rate for lone parent households from Eurostat is for 2016 and shows the rate in Ireland was 23.2%. The 2016 EU average was 15.7%. The most recent national Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) data for 2017, released by the CSO this week, reflects this. The 2017 consistent poverty rate for households with one adult...

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

Regina Doherty: ‘In-work poverty’ measures the at-risk-of-poverty rate (i.e. the percentage with incomes below 60% of the median income) among adults (16+) who are ‘in-work’, based on their self-defined principal economic status. The most recent CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions data from 2017, released this week, show the at-risk-of-poverty rate was 5.4% for those aged...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Rent supplement continues its vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 24,800 recipients at a total cost €179.5 million for 2018 In recognition of the on-going rental market difficulties, the Department continues to implement a targeted case-by-case policy approach in the administration of rent supplement. This approach addresses the...

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

Regina Doherty: The Illness Benefit claim for the person concerned has been processed and all arrears owing to him up to his final certificate which was dated the 12th November 2018 have been issued. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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

Regina Doherty: My Department transferred administration of the Illness Benefit (IB) scheme to from a legacy IT platform to its newer 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...

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

Regina Doherty: The average appeal processing times for all appeals determined to the end of November 2018 broken down by all social welfare scheme types is outlined in the table below. 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...

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

Regina Doherty: Government policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. First, through policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, to create an environment in which business can succeed and create jobs; and second, through Pathways to Work to ensure that as many of these new jobs and other vacancies that arise in our economy are filled by people taken from the Live Register, and in particular the long-term...

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

Regina Doherty: County Kildare is administered by 3 separate departmental divisions, for the purposes of the provision of community welfare services to its customers. Each division has its own arrangements in place for the provision of such services depending upon specific local/area needs, resources and customer requirements. Through the development of an integrated decisions model for jobseeker and one...

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

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to ensuring that the principles of due process and natural justice are followed in all claim decisions. This applies equally to decisions at initial claim stage and when claims are subsequently reviewed. The Department’s guidelines on Decision Making and Natural Justice are published on the website - www.welfare.ie. This message is reinforced through...

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

Regina Doherty: To qualify for a widow/widower’s or surviving civil partner’s (contributory) pension, the surviving spouse must be deemed, under Irish law, to be the legal widow/widower 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Community Employment (CE) programme is a community centred labour market initiative the aim of which is to help long-term unemployed people and other vulnerable groups to enter the workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a short term return-to-work routine. The programme assists participants to enhance and develop both their technical and personal skills, which can...

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

Regina Doherty: Government policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. First, through policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, to create an environment in which business can succeed and create jobs; and second, through the Pathways to Work Strategy 2016-2020, to ensure that as many of these new jobs and other vacancies that arise in our economy are filled by people taken from the Live Register, including...

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

Regina Doherty: A social welfare overpayment occurs when a person is paid in excess of their entitlement to a social welfare payment. A deciding officer of the Department will usually determine the period and the amount of the excess payment. Customers have a legal right to seek a review of any decision and can appeal any decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office if dissatisfied by the determination of...

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

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (WFP) formerly Family Income Supplement is a weekly tax-free payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependants and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment. There are currently over 54,000 families in receipt of WFP. To qualify for...

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

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

Regina Doherty: Processing times for the principal Social Welfare schemes operated by my Department are shown in the attached table. I regret that this information is temporarily unavailable for Illness Benefit, Occupational Injury Benefit, and Treatment Benefit, due to the impact of recent ICT system changes but will be shared with the Deputy as soon as they become available. Average time to award claims...