Results 5,321-5,340 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. In order to qualify, applicants must show that they are habitually resident in the State, that their means are less...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Non-Contributory) Appeals (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred on 12 December 2018 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Benefit Eligibility (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's Benefit (CARB) is a statutory PRSI-based payment made to a person who leaves the workforce to care for a child or an adult in need of full-time care and attention. Social welfare legislation provides that it is payable for a maximum of 104 weeks in respect of each person being cared for and there is no provision in legislation for the extension of that period. Carer's Leave, which is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department makes approximately 79 million social welfare payments per annum of which nearly 42% are via the post office network. Payment via the post office network are governed by the Department’s contract with An Post. This contract sets out the fee rate payable to the company for providing this service to the Department. This is a commercial contract and details of the price...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Drug Rehabilitation Projects (18 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 CE Drug Rehabilitation Programme Framework was implemented in January 2016 and involves a multi-agency approach to rehabilitation and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned has been receiving a half-rate carer's allowance (CA) since 15 September 2016 as her husband was claiming an increase on his jobseeker's allowance in respect of her. As her husband's jobseeker's allowance has ceased on his return to work, the person concerned sought an increase to full rate CA. Because CA is a means-tested payment, her husband's means from employment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. In order to qualify, applicants must show that they are habitually resident in the State, that their means are less than...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Eligibility (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The issue of extending additional social insurance benefits to the self-employed paying class S PRSI was considered in the Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance fund (SIF) as at 31 December, 2015, which I published on the 18 October 2017. The review, required by legislation, was carried out by independent consultants, KPMG. It examines the projected income and expenditure of the SIF over...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Non-Contributory) (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: On 23 January last, the Government agreed to allow pensioners, born on or after the 1st September 1946, affected by the 2012 changes in rate bands, to have their state pension (contributory) entitlement calculated under an interim “Total Contributions Approach” (TCA). The changes also provide for up to 20 years of home caring periods in the calculation of that entitlement for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (18 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: Illness Benefit Applications (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department administers the Illness Benefit scheme to those customers who cannot work because they are sick or ill, provided they are covered by the appropriate class of social insurance (PRSI) and satisfy the PRSI conditions. The person concerned does not satisfy the PRSI qualifying conditions for a payment of Illness Benefit. It is open to the person concerned to apply for Disability...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Illness Benefit claim for the person concerned has been processed and is paid up to the 15th December 2015. The person concerned claimed Illness Benefit from the 3rd December 2018 but as no payment is made for the first six days of Illness, these are commonly known as waiting days, payment commenced from the 10th December 2018. The claim is medically certified up to the 13th January 2019....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme (18 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. Rent supplement is subject to a means test that is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of their rent, has at least an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. An increased payment can be made where full-time care is being provided to two people. The person concerned is in receipt...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Provisions in respect of the recovery of sums overpaid from the estates of deceased customers has been a feature of the social welfare system for several decades. Sections 18 and 19 of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1960 made provision for this matter with respect to pension payments. The provisions were subsequently broadened to cover other overpayments on other schemes...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Data (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department provides a range of activation supports to enable persons in receipt of a jobseeker's payment, to move to full-time employment with a sustainable income. These supports include the JobPath Service, which was launched in July 2015. JobPath provides an intensive personal service which focuses on the skills and experience of each person. To date, just over 195,000 clients have...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Payments (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: In line with other EU and OECD jurisdictions where such measures feature, reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced in 2009 and extended to those under 26 in Budget 2014. Lower weekly rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were introduced to protect young people from welfare dependency by providing them with a strong financial...

Centenary of 1918 General Election: Statements (13 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: That is no surprise.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Registration of Births (13 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Section 22 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 provides for registration of births where the parents are not married to each other. Specifically, section 22(3) sets out how a person other than a husband may be registered as father of the child. In this particular case section 23(3)(a) applies, as there is no decree of divorce, deed of nullity, or deed of separation. Under these provisions...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (13 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: At the end of October there were 25,654 recipients of Rent Supplement nationally, of whom 825 were resident in Kerry. At the same time, there were 71 recipients of a Rent Allowance payment nationally. This is an allowance payable to tenants of certain dwellings affected by the de-control of rents on 26 July 1982. I regret that a breakdown of this figure by county is not available.