Results 6,381-6,400 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Payments (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The Government has provided €49.5 million for the scheme in 2018. The payment rates are €125 for eligible children aged 4 to 11 years and €250 for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget Measures (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: As Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection my priorities include children living in consistent poverty, and lone parent families. I welcomed the Joint Oireachtas Committee’s report of 2017 on the Position of Lone Parents in Ireland, as it helps to inform the policy in this area. Social transfers are very effective in reducing poverty, and Eurostat data shows that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Administration (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Farm assist is a means-tested income support scheme for farmers. To qualify for the payment, a customer must be a farmer, farming land in the State, aged between 18 and 66 and satisfy a means test. The annual farm assist review form is a necessary part of the normal review process for these customers. The means test for farm assist takes account of all income sources with certain...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Rights (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Ireland has a comprehensive body of employment legislation, in respect of which the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is mandated to secure compliance. Ireland’s employment rights legislation protects all employees, including migrant workers, who are legally employed on an a contract of service basis. Where an individual believes they are being deprived of employment rights...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed, under the Pathways to Work Strategy to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities. Penalty rates were introduced as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. Penalty rate sanctions can only be invoked in relation to failure to comply with the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 87 together. My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested payment, made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and providing full-time care...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Court Judgments (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The recent Judgement of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (“UKSC”) regarding the Widowed parent’s allowance (WPA) has been examined by my Department, and it appears that it does not have any relevance to the Widows/Widowers/Surviving Civil Partners Contributory Pension (WCP) paid by my Department. In the first instance, it should be noted that decisions of UK...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Pensions reform is a Government priority and the plans to achieve this are set out in the Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-2023, which was published last February. Among the key commitments contained in this plan is to develop, by 2022, a new ‘Automatic Enrolment’ (AE) supplementary retirement savings system for employees without pensions coverage. AE will see a transition...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension Eligibility (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Widow’s, Widower’s and Surviving Civil Partner’s pension is paid to the husband or wife of a deceased person and is available to those who satisfy the necessary PRSI contribution conditions, either on their own record or on that of the deceased spouse, provided the applicant is not cohabiting. The legal context governing relationships such as marriage is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Support Grant (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Through the commitments contained in both the Programme for Government and in the National Carers’ Strategy, the Government recognises the crucial role that family carers play in Irish society and is fully committed to their support through a range of supports and services. The main income supports provided by my Department include carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance, carer's...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Payments (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: During the economic downturn, my Department protected primary social welfare rates and in recent years, as the economy recovered, the Government has concentrated resources in improving the core rates of payments, particularly for pensioners. Abolishing the bereavement grant provided a significant annual saving and allowed my Department to protect other core social welfare payments such as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Local Employment Service (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department commissioned Indecon to conduct a review of the Local Employment and Job Club services. This review is the first significant independent review that has been commissioned since the Local Employment Services (LES) and Job Clubs were established. The review will help inform future decisions regarding how the Department contracts, monitors and procures for these services. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Government is committed to encouraging self-employment and entrepreneurship and this includes improving the level of PRSI based benefits available to self-employed people while ensuring the sustainability of the social insurance fund. Self-employed contributors have been eligible for the invalidity pension since December 2017. For the first time, this has given the self-employed...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: SAFE Level 2 registration is carried out by my Department and allows a person to verify their identity once, not just for access to services provided by this Department but also for a number of public services. Once a person completes a SAFE 2 registration, they may be issued with a Public Services Card (PSC) as a physical token that proves they have had their identity verified to the SAFE 2...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Section 4 of the General Data Protection Regulation deals with the appointment and role of a Data Protection Officer. All public authorities and bodies including Government department's are required to designate a Data Protection Officer (DPO). The Department has appointed a Data Protection Officer in line with the GDPR. As the Deputy is aware, the functions of the Data Protection Officer...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Proposed Legislation (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: On 7th December 2017, I published the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017. The Bill delivers on the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious work. This is a very important piece of legislation which will improve the security and predictability of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance Payments (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Fuel Allowance Scheme is means tested and assists pensioners and other welfare dependent householders with meeting the cost of their heating needs during the winter season. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's normal heating expenses. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. The scheme operates over the colder weather period (currently 27 weeks). The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget Submissions (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Government acknowledges the crucial role that family carers play in Irish life and is fully committed to supporting carers in their role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for a Partnership Government and the National Carers’ Strategy. It is also reflected in the fact that my Department expects to spend in the region of €1.2 billion during 2018 on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Data (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: JobPath is designed to support people who are long term unemployed to obtain and sustain employment in the open labour market. The JobPath companies have no role in selection of jobseekers for referral to the service. My Department selects clients for the JobPath service by means of a random selection process and protocols for selection currently preclude the selection of anyone who has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (26 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Government intends to introduce a Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to establishing level of entitlement for all new state pension contributory claims from 2020 onwards (TCA2020). I launched a public consultation on this proposal earlier this year in May. The consultation sought input on a range of relevant factors which included the amount of contributions needed for a full rate...