Results 541-560 of 14,252 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the Free Travel Scheme is to ensure older people and people with disabilities remain active within their community by providing access to existing public and private transport routes. Generally, access to a free travel pass for those aged under 66 is linked to a person being in receipt of certain primary Social Protection payments, mainly related to disability and caring. A...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the law as currently enacted, entitlement to a Widows, Widowers or Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory pension is only available to a surviving partner who was party to a marriage or civil partnership. As the Deputy is aware, on 22nd January 2024, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the entitlement of an unmarried cohabitant to a Widower's Contributory Pension. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: One of the conditions for receipt of the Living Alone Increase requires the applicant to be in receipt of a qualifying payment from this Department. As the person concerned is not currently in receipt of a qualifying payment from my Department, they are not entitled to the Living Alone Increase. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Sector Staff (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: I wish to confirm to the Deputy that all new employees recruited by the Department of Social Protection and The Pensions Authority are fully vetted by An Garda Síochána Vetting Bureau prior to commencement of employment. Staff of the Citizens Information Board, do not deal with the public directly and on this basis are not required to undertake Garda vetting as part of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Working Family Payment (WFP) is a weekly in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. To qualify for Working Family Payment, the customer must have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them and be working a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight in ongoing insurable employment. An application for WFP was received from the person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Bereavement Grant, which was a once-off payment for funeral costs, was discontinued in January 2014. The number of bereavement grant claims in 2013 was 23,716 at a cost of €20.3 million. The number of Bereavement Grant claims paid in 2013 equated to 80% of registered deaths. If the same percentage was applied to the figures for 2023 - the most recent data that the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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. Legislation outlines that the carer must be providing full-time care and attention to the care recipient. It also...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Treatment Benefit is a PRSI-based scheme which provides free dental and optical services and assistance towards the provision of audiological appliances and hair replacement products. The scheme is available to people who satisfy certain qualifying conditions and to their dependent spouses/partners. Bifocals / Varifocals are available on the Treatment Benefit scheme. I hope this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Business Supports (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1011 and 1014 together. The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, administered by my department through the local Community Welfare Service, was activated on the 23rd January 2025 to assist householders affected across the country by Storm Éowyn. The purpose of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is to provide financial support to people whose homes are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Budgets (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities (NAS) is funded and supported by the Citizens Information Board (CIB), which has a mandate under the Citizens Information Act 2007 to provide advocacy for people with disabilities. The NAS provides an independent, confidential and free, issues-based representative advocacy service that works exclusively for the person using the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: All of the remaining primary schools who have not yet joined the Hot School Meals Scheme were contacted in 2024, including the school referred to by the deputy, and asked to submit expressions of interest if their school wishes to commence the provision of hot school meals. In Budget 2025, it was announced that the Hot School Meals Scheme will be extended to all remaining primary schools in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in-work payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with qualified children. To qualify for Working Family Payment, the customer must have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them and be working a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight in ongoing insurable employment. WFP for the person concerned was due for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. The Programme for Government has set out a timeline which commits to significantly further increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget with a view to gradually phasing out the means test...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and the habitual residency conditions. The DA payment of the person concerned was stopped on 5 October 2022 as his means...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public transport services and on private transport services operating the Free Travel scheme. There are over 1.1 million customers with direct eligibility for Free Travel. As part of Budget 2024, Free Travel was extended to people who are medically certified as unfit to drive. From 29th July 2024, the measure extended access to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to encourage the take-up of employment support opportunities, including implementing reduced rates for non-engagement with the Intreo Employment Service. Reduced rates were introduced in 2011 as a means of encouraging jobseekers to cooperate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. Entitlement to a jobseeker...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: Referrals to the JobPath service ceased in June 2022 and the service ceased completely in June 2024. JobPath was a payment by results model and all set-up and day-to-day operational costs were borne by the companies. The companies were paid on the basis of performance and with the exception of the initial registration fee; payments were made only when a client had achieved sustained...