Results 41-60 of 1,024,278 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Paul Gavan OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Pa Daly)

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (11 Jun 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Ireland signed the UNCRPD in 2007 and ratified it in 2008. We have utterly failed to ratify the optional protocol to the convention, which would allow people to take an action. For years, we have moved away from charity. I welcome changes the Minister has made, including the different bonuses that have been given. However, organisations working with people with disabilities have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I published the Green Paper and consulted widely. People did not want it.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (11 Jun 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Rightly so.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: That was it. I took it off the table. The Cabinet committee is now in place. As I said, it is not just about income supports. There are 1.1 million people in this country who are disabled. The question is how we target the resources. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, continues to consult the sector. The findings from the Green Paper will be taken into consideration at the Cabinet...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (11 Jun 2024)

David Stanton: I thank the Minister very much. I remember when this section was discussed at the time the Bill was introduced in 2005 but the provision is obscure. I am astounded that 616 cases are currently being processed under this section. That seems to be quite a lot. What I am really interested in is the time it is taking to process those appeals. What is the longest period any case has been...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I do not think I have the figure here about how long the oldest case is there, but I will get it for the Deputy. It is complicated enough and perhaps not that many people are familiar with this process, but it kicks in whenever a person provides new information. When an appeal is decided, if a person has new information, the application goes back in again and it is looked at with a fresh...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (11 Jun 2024)

David Stanton: I thank the Minister very much. I am not familiar with clients being overtly informed about section 317. Does the Minister agree that if an appeal is decided in the negative that the clients should be then informed in the same letter that they can appeal under section 317 if further information becomes available? Perhaps that is happening, but I have not actually seen it. The Minister...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: In fairness to the Department, it generally does tell people what options are available to them. If an appellant is unhappy with the decision of an appeals officer, he or she may seek a review of the decision under section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, provided there are new facts or evidence that were not before the appeals officer who made the original decision. A further...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

School Meals Programme

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: 11. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will expand the free school meals programme to all schools from September 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25410/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: The free hot school meals programme is money extremely well spent in terms of education and tackling hunger in young people for families. Why do we not roll it out to all schools, primary and secondary, in September 2024?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. In recent years, entry to the school meals programme had been confined to DEIS schools in addition to schools identified by the Department of Education as having levels of concentrated disadvantage that would benefit from access to the programme. In budget 2022, I provided funding for all DEIS schools currently in the programme. In July 2022, I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: The question is in the context of the previous discussion we had about enforced deprivation among children. Other statistics are available. The Barnardos figures are striking. They are so striking that the former Taoiseach simply did not believe them at the time and he thought they were probably exaggerated. They stated that in November 2023 one in four parents did not have enough food to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: We wrote a second time to the approximately 1,000 schools that did not respond to us in the first call. Some 600 have come back and we will work with them. We will continue to approach the remaining schools. Obviously, I will need to secure more money in the budget this year to complete the roll-out of the programme. My plan is that all primary school children will have access to a hot...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Social Welfare Rates

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: 9. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will increase social welfare rates in budget 2025 in order that no one is living below the poverty line; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25409/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: There is already hype in the media about the upcoming budget. It is being said that it will be one of the last acts of the Government, whether the general election will be this year or next year. The Government will have a surplus of €65 billion in the coming years. Can the Minister commit now to increasing social welfare rates so that nobody will be left living below the poverty line?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As Minister for Social Protection, I am fully committed to making the case for a fair budget that protects the people most in need in our society, particularly families on low incomes and those people, including pensioners and carers, who are dependent on social welfare payments. As part of budget 2024, I secured a €2.3 billion social...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Paul Murphy: Unfortunately, the Minister and the Government have been found wanting. They have been found wanting for children in this country. The latest child poverty monitor report found that more than 250,000 children, or more than one in five children, in this State experienced enforced deprivation in 2023. The number of children experiencing enforced deprivation rose by almost 20% last year. The...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Well, I will have to give the Deputy the facts again. Consistent poverty and at-risk poverty have fallen. The 2023 national consistent poverty rate is 3.6%. This equates to 185,385 people, down from 4.9% in 2022, and 4.2% in 2021. This is the lowest rate of consistent poverty recorded since the start of the SILC survey. It puts the Government on track to meet the ambitious target set...