Results 6,801-6,820 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Benefit Applications (10 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care and attention. At the end of May processing times were on average 9 weeks from date of receipt. Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (10 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 29 May 2018, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Civil Marriages (5 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: I refer the Deputy to an earlier reply on this issue, concerning the validity of marriages conducted in other jurisdictions [14 June 2018, PQ 26165/18]. The law relating to this is set out in section 29 of the Family Law Act 1995, which comes under the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Applications (5 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: According to departmental records, an application for Supplementary Welfare Allowance has been received from the person concerned. On several occasions, additional documentation was requested from the person concerned to include a completed HRC form, bank statements, passports and flight information. When all documentation has been received, a decision will be made in relation to the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Applications Data (5 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The following table provides the details requested by the Deputy in respect of invalidity pension appeals received and finalised from 2016 to 2018....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Training (5 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department has rolled out a number of GDPR training solutions to date. There have been a series of GDPR training and awareness sessions across the Department’s network of offices and to date, over 2500 staff have attended these sessions. These sessions will be ongoing over the summer and beyond. Separately to this, the Department has commissioned a GDPR training video, with an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (5 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: All jobseekers referred to my Department’s activation service, including those referred to the JobPath service, are requested to complete a personal progression plan (PPP) which contains a schedule of activities; actions and job focused targets, taking into account a person’s specific qualifications and employment preferences. The person will be requested to sign the PPP as an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Review (5 Jul 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 person who has such a disability that they require that level of care. My department received an application for CA from the person concerned on 22 November 2016. It is a condition for receipt of CA that every...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (5 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: To qualify for a standard state pension (contributory) (SPC) a person must have at least 520 full-rate paid contributions. Eligibility for a mixed insurance state pension (contributory) is based on a combination of at least 520 full-rate and modified-rate paid contributions, with a minimum requirement of 260 full-rate paid contributions. The person’s entitlement to both a standard and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: Any decision to introduce a travel allowance along the lines suggested by the Deputy would significantly change the nature of the free travel scheme and would have considerable budgetary consequences. Various alternatives to the existing system, including the use of vouchers, have been examined previously by my Department. It concluded that a voucher type system, which would be open to a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Data (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: An estimate of €431.3m has been provided for in the 2018 Revised Estimates for the Working Family Payment. It is not possible to disaggregate the cost of administering the Working Family Payment scheme from the overall costs of Department’s administration because staff processing claims for any scheme are typically working on a range of schemes.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Data (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: In 2006, the maximum rate of the State Pension (contributory) was €193.30. This was increased by €14 to €209.30 for 2007 and by €14 again for 2008 bringing the rate to €223.30. In January 2009, the contributory pension was increased by €7 to bring the rate to €230.30. As the recession continued, the contributory pension rate did not see any...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Bereavement Grant (4 Jul 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: Personal Public Service Numbers (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: While an application was received from the person concerned, not all documentation was provided. The applicant has been notified of this and has been asked to provide all of the required documentation. Where a person comes or is coming to the State and requires a PPS Number, they can attend and apply in person at a PPS Number allocation centre. At this centre, they should provide...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Treatment Benefit Scheme (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: The treatment benefit scheme provides for an optical examination and new spectacles every second calendar year for everyone who meets the PRSI qualification criteria. There are no special allowances for spectacles that have been stolen within that period. However, as the person concerned last claimed under the optical benefit scheme more than two years ago he is eligible to claim for a new...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Telephone Support Allowance (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: The new Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) is a weekly payment of €2.50 not a monthly payment. Customers of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection who are in receipt of a qualifying payment and who are also in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance and the Fuel Allowance automatically qualify for the TSA. Approximately 127,000 customers are in receipt of the TSA...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Contracts Data (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: The information requested is currently being compiled by my Department and will be provided to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Payments (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: The 2018 Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseeker’s schemes of €2.17 billion. Jobseeker’s benefit (JB) is a contingency based social welfare payment typically for employees who have suffered a substantial loss of employment and have sufficient social insurance contributions to qualify. If a person does not qualify for JB they may...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (4 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: The back to education allowance (BTEA) is a scheme that allows persons in receipt of certain social welfare payments the opportunity to pursue a course of study, while still maintaining their income support, subject to satisfying a number of conditions. The conditions include progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications....

Order of Business (3 Jul 2018)

Regina Doherty: I can only assume from the way the Deputy has asked the question that she may not be aware that we have just gone through a very comprehensive review of the Gender Recognition Act 2015. The report was sent to me only last week. I am nearly finished reading it and will commence a meeting-----