Results 41-60 of 14,159 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disabilities Assessments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government recognises the additional costs associated with having a disability and is committed to improving outcomes for disabled people. In the programme for Government, we are committed to introducing a permanent annual cost of disability support payment. These commitments will build on progress made in recent years where we have taken steps to recognise the additional costs...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I would certainly be happy to consider that. There would be logistics issues. Some schools feed hundreds of students every day with a range of meal options. It could work, from a nutritional point of view as well, in that locally supplied food is generally healthier in this context. It is something we might even ask the nutrition review to consider as well. Anything we can do to help in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I join the Deputy in wishing a happy 50th to Balbriggan meals on wheels; it is welcome to the club. I agree with the Deputy. We will certainly have a look at it. The first thing to do is review the nutritional standards. We will complete the roll-out of the school meals programme into every remaining primary school in September. That is a good time to stand back, take stock and see how...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Tusla has a duty under section 45 of the Child Care Act 1991 to make a decision whether each person leaving care has a need for assistance and then to provide services in accordance with the legislation, subject to the resources. On reaching the age of 18, a young person is deemed to have left State care. Young people who have a care history with Tusla are entitled to an aftercare service...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The staff in my Department are acutely aware of the challenges faced by young people who leave care and are available to them to assist with the provision of social protection income and employment supports. The Department's staff engage with a range of stakeholders and advocacy groups working with vulnerable people. For instance in Dublin, staff engage with the Dublin Regional Homeless...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for her question and correspondence on this issue. On the nutritional value of school meals, I am very aware of the concerns that have been expressed. It is important to note that each week, parents are provided with a menu of food options and it is the parents who select the food to be served to their children in that week. It is important, in my view, that parents...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 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: Departmental Projects (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department of Social Protection receives EU Funding under the following EU programmes. The current programme is the European Social Fund Plus Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training Programme (ESF+EIST 2021-2027) which is a cross-Government programme managed by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science. The Department has four schemes within...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise because of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended). Customers who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled. The Department has a central debt unit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The delivery of vital locally based Community Welfare Services (CWS) to meet the challenges and the needs of citizens across the country is a priority for me and for my Department. The Community Welfare Service provides a flexible service to meet the different needs of people, who may find themselves in a financially difficult or vulnerable situation. It is a priority that this service is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Strategies (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: A national Youth Homelessness Strategy was published in November 2022 and aims to help young people aged 18 - 24 years who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. My department is represented on the Youth Homelessness Strategy Steering Group and is responsible for delivering on Action 25 of the Youth Homelessness Strategy. This action is to “Review work experience, placements,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household resources. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements. The scheme is demand led and payments are made at the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government commits to examining the introduction of a Pay Related Carer’s Benefit for individuals who have to give up work suddenly in order to provide full-time care. In terms of roll-out of Pay-Related Benefits, the Programme for Government also contains a commitment to introduce a Pay-Related Parent’s Benefit. The new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached pension age on 15 January 2025. To be eligible for the standard state pension (contributory) an individual must have at least 520 full-rate contributions. To qualify for a mixed insurance pension, 520 employment contributions are required, of which at least 260 must be full-rate contributions with the remainder made up of modified contributions. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS), administered by my department through the Community Welfare Service (CWS), was activated on 23 January 2025 to assist householders affected across the country by Storm Éowyn. According to the records of the Department, the person concerned applied for a HAS stage 1 payment to assist with the additional costs incurred as a result of Storm...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The CLÁR programme is a targeted investment programme that provides funding for small scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas. Since 2017, almost €1.6 million has been awarded in County Meath for some 43 CLÁR projects . The attached table outlines the projects approved and the amount of CLÁR funding awarded to those projects in Co Meath from 2023 to...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 276 and 278 together. The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports improving rural roads and laneways not usually maintained by local authorities. Since its establishment in 2017, almost €170 million has been provided by the Government to local authorities for LIS. While the Department provides funding for LIS, the scheme is administered by local...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) with the amounts paid to each local authority in each year, for inclusion in their Report on the Accounts of the Public Services. As my Department was established in 2017, I have provided the information for 2017 to 2024 inclusive. I would note that the 2024 figures remain provisional until the OCAG report...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (30 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: The current LEADER Programme runs to 2027 and is now up and running across the country. It supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups across rural Ireland. A feature of the LEADER programme is that it is based on a community-led, bottom-up...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (10 Apr 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes. Invalidity Pension is a weekly payment to people who are regarded as being permanently incapable of work because of a long-term illness or...