Results 5,941-5,960 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Illness Benefit Payments (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not dispute anything the Deputy has said. I am grateful to him for acknowledging the good service given by the Department. It is apt for me to state the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection makes 1.2 million payments every week and has a really good record, which is why it is so difficult to understand how this issue was as badly managed and communicated as it was. ...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Illness Benefit Payments (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: I particularly thank the Deputy not just for raising this matter but also for his patience and waiting for me to be available to reply to this debate. I know he raised the matter before the Halloween break but I was not available on the day so I am grateful that he is allowing me to put the following on the record of the House and respond to his queries. The matter has affected not just...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: A transition to a new information technology system in August led to a number of people on illness benefit receiving partial or no payments during recent months. Following remedial action taken by the Department in recent days, however, payment levels have now returned to normal. Action taken on two occasions last week led to 54,000 payments being issued. The normal activity is 50,000...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: -----to ensure they provide this service to the people entirely dependent upon it. We have said that on a number of occasions. I am not, however, entirely satisfied with the way things have been communicated in the last couple of weeks and, in particular, how we have resolved it. It took longer than we expected to resolve it. I have commissioned an independent review of how the changes in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Wage-setting Mechanisms (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has a very particular and limited role in relation to wage setting, and this is restricted to the setting of the National Minimum Wage (on the basis of recommendations from the Low Pay Commission). In terms of wage-setting generally, however, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, through its responsibilities for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Tax Yield (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The estimated yield to the Exchequer in a full year for each 1% increase in employer's PRSI is: 1% in the employer PRSI rate Increased revenue Employments affected Lower rate €42.5m 807,744 Higher rate €736.1m 2,142,497 Total €778.6m 2,950,241 These estimates are based on PRSI Class A contributors. They use the latest available data and reflect macro-economic...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: Diet supplement, administered under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, is payable to qualifying persons, in receipt of the supplement prior to February 2014, who have been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition. There are currently 2,500 in receipt of diet supplement at a cost of €1.4 million in 2018. Following the outcome of a review...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The primary goal of my Department’s activation services, including the JobPath service, is to move people from full-time and part-time unemployment to full-time and sustained employment. From 1st June this year all long term jobseekers who are currently engaged with the JobPath service and those who may be referred in future, have the option of applying for Community Employment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Treatment Benefit Scheme Data (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The medical appliance scheme operated as part of treatment benefits provides a grant towards the purchase of hearing aids. Currently this is paid at 50% of the purchase price, to a max of €500 per aid and a maximum of two appliances in any 4 year period. Repairs to hearing aids can also be claimed for under the scheme. The grant was increased on a number of occasions in the late...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Payments (6 Nov 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. Where a person in receipt of full-rate CA has a qualified child who is 18 years of age or over and is in full-time day...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The aim of the Community Employment (CE) programme is to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and unemployed people by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. The programme helps break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market. Participation on CE is intended to be for a temporary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (6 Nov 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: Community Employment Schemes Operation (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department provides a range of activation supports and programmes catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include Community Employment (CE), the Tús programme and the Rural Social Scheme (RSS). RSS was introduced in 2004 and provides opportunities for farmers and fishermen/women who are currently in receipt of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Meetings (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has not met the named company in the past three years.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for 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. According to Eurostat Data, the parental in-work poverty rate in Ireland is less than half the EU average and this is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Applications (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The application for farm assist by the person concerned was disallowed by a Deciding Officer of the Department on the grounds that he was not engaged in farming as defined by social welfare legislation. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an appeal by the person concerned was referred on 5th September 2018 to an Appeals Officer who will make a summary decision on the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1035 and 1036 together. Budget 2019 announced the introduction of a new social insurance based paid parental benefit scheme for employees and the self-employed which will provide two weeks paid leave to both parents. The new payment will support parents during the first year of a child's life and allows for more flexibility in managing a work life...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Consultations (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1037 and 1038 together. Given the nature of the work of my Department, there are a range of consultative fora in place through which the Department engages with key stakeholders – including, for example, the annual pre-Budget Forum, a Disability Consultative forum and customer representative groups. The consultations listed below therefore relate to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me it has not received an appeal from the person concerned in respect of disability allowance. An invalidity pension appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who has decided to convene an oral hearing in this case. Every effort will be made to hear the case as quickly as possible and the appellant will be informed when...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Payments (6 Nov 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Illness Benefit claim for the person concerned is certified and paid up to 8th November 2018. If the person concerned remains ill and unfit for work, he should submit a further medical certificate to the Department as soon as possible to enable further payments to be made. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.