Results 561-580 of 14,252 for speaker:Dara Calleary

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

Dara Calleary: The Department of the Social Protection does not currently have any contracts with the company in question. Details of contracts awarded by the Department over €25k are published every quarter on gov.ie.

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

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached age 66 in September 2023. There is no record in my department of an application for state pension contributory or state pension (non-contributory). An individual’s State pension (contributory) entitlement depends on factors such as a person’s social insurance record, their attachment to the workforce and their countries of employment. Under...

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

Dara Calleary: The Covid-19 Related Lay-off Payment (CRLP) is provided for under section 32A of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, as amended, and is paid from the Social Insurance Fund. The scheme ensures that employees who are made redundant, who are eligible for a statutory redundancy payment, and who were placed on temporary lay-off due to Covid-19 public health restrictions are not disadvantaged in...

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

Dara Calleary: The table below sets out the weekly social protection payment rates when indexed to inflation and earnings, compared to the maximum personal rate base rate from (2019). It also includes the 2025 rate, along with the weekly equivalent of the various cost-of-living measures introduced since 2023 (the total divided by the number of weeks since 2023): Scheme Rate when indexed...

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

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government commits to introducing a new Working Age Payment to provide that individuals see an increase in income when they work or take on additional hours and remove inconsistencies and anomalies in the current Jobseeker's Allowance scheme. My Department is progressing this work, taking into account initial responses on the principle of the scheme which were received...

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

Dara Calleary: My Department keeps all our income and employment supports for people with disabilities under review to ensure they meet their policy objectives. These payments include Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension and Blind Pension, as well as employment supports such as Partial Capacity Benefit, the Wage Subsidy Scheme and Work and Access. People on Disability Allowance or Blind Pension can...

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

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS), administered by my department through the Community Welfare Service, was activated on the 23rd January 2025 to assist householders affected across the country by Storm Éowyn. Humanitarian assistance is available in three stages. Stage 1 of the HAS is available to people while they are directly impacted by the storm. It targets people who...

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

Dara Calleary: The criteria for Fuel Allowance are in place to direct the limited resources available to my department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qualifying criteria including satisfy a means test and the household composition criteria, while those under 66 must also be in receipt of a qualifying payment. This ensures that...

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

Dara Calleary: Fuel Allowance is a payment to help with the cost of heating during the winter. It is paid to only one person in a household. From January 2025, Carer's Allowance is a qualifying payment for fuel allowance. To qualify for fuel allowance the household must satisfy a means test, which is calculated differently to the means to determine eligibility for Carer's Allowance. This means that...

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

Dara Calleary: Prior to 6 April 1995, civil and public servants did not have access to the full range of social insurance benefits as their terms of employment protected them against the main contingencies of illness and old age, and the risk of unemployment was not considered a factor due to the nature of their employment. In 1994, the Government decided that civil and public servants appointed on or after...

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 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 Schemes (19 Mar 2025)

Dara Calleary: The 'Baby Loss Certificate' scheme was introduced by the UK government as part of a response to an independent review, published in 2023, into early pregnancy loss. The recommendation in relation to a 'certificate of baby loss' which the Deputy refers to is one of 73 recommendations made in the review. The UK report also recommends against establishing a formal system of registration as...

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. We are fully committed to supporting carers in that role. The Programme for Government has set out a timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the...

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

Dara Calleary: The annual amount claimed by special advisers attached to my Department outside of their regular salary, since 1 March 2020 to date in 2025 is as follows: Name 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Niall O'Connor €0 €0 €318.92 €264.97 €48.42 ...

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

Dara Calleary: The Department of Social Protection does not own or lease any buildings or land in Dublin 8, 10 or 12. All properties occupied by my department are owned or leased by the Office of Public Works (OPW), with the exception of the department's headquarters, Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, Store Street, Dublin 1, which is held by the Minister on behalf of the Social Insurance Fund. Generally, matters...

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

Dara Calleary: The Department's systems do not have the capacity to confirm bank account details. The Department made contact with the customer on 10th March and sent the customer a declaration to sign, which will give the Department permission to contact the bank to in order to request a recall of the payments. On receipt of the signed declaration from the customer, the Department will initiate the...

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

Dara Calleary: Addressing child poverty is a key priority for the Government. That is why the Programme for Government 2025, includes a range of measures to support children and their families. One such commitment is to “explore a targeted Child Benefit Payment and examine the interaction this would have with existing targeted supports to reduce Child Poverty such as the Working Family Payment and...

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

Dara Calleary: Child Benefit is a monthly payment to families with children, from the first month after the birth of the child, up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 19th birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid in respect of almost 1.3 million children. Expenditure on the scheme is estimated at over €2.2...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (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. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 28 August 2024. CA was awarded from 29 August 2024....