Results 41-60 of 1,023,613 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Violet-Anne Wynne)

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...

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

Paul Murphy: I do not know. Is the Minister saying it is okay?

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

Heather Humphreys: No, I am not.

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

Paul Murphy: Even according to the Minister's own figures, one in ten people in this country is at risk of poverty. I will give the Minister the child poverty monitor report figures again. More than one in five children experienced enforced deprivation in 2023, and that figure went up by over 30,000 children to 260,000 children last year. One in four households is in arrears on gas bills, while one in...

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

Heather Humphreys: Regarding these lump sum payments, when people have ESB and heating bills in the winter, people need the money in their pockets then. There is no point in increasing the weekly rate. We need to get the money to them then to pay the bills. It has actually been shown that these once-off, or lump sum, payments have been very effective in dealing with the increase in the cost of living that...

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

Social Welfare Appeals

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

David Stanton: 10. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will outline, with reference to section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, the number of revisions carried out under the section in each respective year from 2021 to 2023 inclusive; the number of these revisions that resulted in a changed decision; the number of revisions currently being considered...

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

David Stanton: This question is to ask about section 317 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. It is quite an obscure section of the Act and I am curious to know how many revisions have been carried out under this section in each respective year, the number of these revisions that resulted in a changed decision, the number of revisions currently being considered under the section, the longest...

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

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this issue. 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. The social welfare appeals system is underpinned by Chapter 2 of Part 10 of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Employment Schemes (11 Jun 2024)

Bernard Durkan: I agree very much agree with the previous speaker about this valuable scheme. It has helped many people to readjust to situations that face them at a particularly difficult time. It has helped local voluntary organisations tremendously at a time when it has been quite difficult to get sufficient staff to meet their requirements. Anything that can be done to make the scheme more attractive...