Results 6,921-6,940 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: As the Deputy knows, the Government and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs have set up the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, which is very well funded. The Minister is acutely aware of the nature of the difficulties and challenges that face many children who are in difficult and vulnerable positions. Clearly, this is an issue that he has worked on, and he is making preparations in...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: As the Deputy is aware, the independent child death review group was set up back in March 2010 following the deaths of two children. It made 25 recommendations and, obviously, it is the intention of Government to see that those are implemented.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: In the first instance, Tusla, the dedicated Child and Family Agency, has been established. It is chaired by one of the authors of the report, as the Deputy knows. Some key reforms that are being implemented as part of that work include the national service delivery framework and national policy guidelines across a range of areas such as welfare, protection and alternative care. They also...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: -----and it is currently before the Oireachtas being debated, as the Deputy is aware. A Bill to provide a statutory right to an aftercare plan is currently being drafted and will be published shortly. Since the publication of the review group's report, HIQA has continued its work in reviewing both fostering and child protection and welfare services, and is supporting the aim of continuously...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: It is not intended to reverse it, and I will explain to Deputy Martin why. The Government has a particular programme to make work pay. We cannot allow a situation, in an economy that is recovering like ours, which bypasses thousands of households that are locked into joblessness. That has been one of the real difficulties for so many families. Jobless households with children are at...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: The purpose of the phased scheme is to reduce long-term social welfare dependency, an aim with which I am sure Deputy Martin agrees. From when this scheme was introduced back in 1997 until the end of 2010, recipient numbers increased by 50% and annual expenditure increased by €772 million every year. Despite the significant levels of investment - in excess of €1 billion per...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: Prior to the reforms, lone parents could have been on the scheme until their youngest child turned 18 years of age, or 22 if the child was in full-time education. The non-conditional nature of the payment, coupled with its very long duration, consigned many lone parents and their children to long-term dependency on welfare, which is not a good position to be in.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: Ireland's supports for lone parents have been out of line with international norms, under which there has been a movement away from long-term and non-conditional support towards a much more supportive approach. In New Zealand and the Netherlands, for instance, the equivalent lone parent supports cease when the youngest child reaches the age of five years.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: The evidence clearly indicates that, despite the investment, the scheme was not successful in addressing the risk of poverty and may have been contributing to the welfare dependency trap for many of those people. It is anticipated that approximately 30,200 recipients will transition out of this payment on 2 July 2015.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: Of these, 20,000 parents will experience no change in income or will gain after the transition. The gain for individuals will be in the range of €10 to €150 per week, depending on their level of earnings and the number of children they have. The remaining 10,000 who are in employment will, based on their current circumstances, have an incentive to increase the number of hours...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: Of these 10,000, approximately 6,000 lone parents will have an immediate incentive to increase the number of hours they work to 19 in order to claim family income supplement and the back-to-work family dividend.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: These individuals will be better off financially than they are in their current position. Many parents in this position will be able to increase their hours to 19 per week or four per day, given that their youngest children will still be at school.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: The positive impact has been evident from the increase in the number of new family income supplement applications from lone parents who were affected by these reforms in July 2013 and July 2014. The incentive is there to reach a point at which they can draw down the family income supplement and be better off than they are in their current position.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: Approximately 20,000 will either have no change or be better off, and the remaining 10,000 will have an incentive to increase their income and increase the number of hours they work in order to be eligible for family income supplement or the back-to-work dividend, and therefore be better off.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: I cannot believe that the leader of the Fianna Fáil party, who has had long experience in politics, is content to leave many lone parents wallowing in a poverty trap.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: They have an incentive to get out of the trap and be better off under the new transition arrangements.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: The position is that 30,200 people will be affected by the transition. Deputy Martin says the policy is not working, and it is not, because people are locked into a poverty trap. The opportunity for them is to get out of that poverty trap, increase their benefit and incomes and have a better life.

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: As I said, 20,000 will experience no change or will be better off. The remaining 10,000 have the opportunity to work more hours and be eligible to draw either the family income supplement or the back-to-work dividend. That is a fact. An example of the kind of gain that can be had here is a lone parent with one child who increases her work from 15 to 20 hours per week at the national...

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: If she claims family income supplement for the first time, she will be €38 better off. Is Deputy Martin seriously saying to that lone parent that she can be better off but he will not allow her to do that?

Leaders' Questions (23 Jun 2015)

Enda Kenny: She may also be entitled to claim the back-to-work family dividend for each additional child she has, increasing her income by a further €30 per week per child, so that is almost €68 a week in total where the lone parent has one child.