Results 681-700 of 15,374 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Equipment (22 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 407, 408, 409, 410 and 411 together. My Department's Information and Communications Technology Managed Desktop and Managed Hosting Service is provided by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform through the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO). It's internet service and access to Government Cloud is provided...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to medical assessment, a means test, and habitual residency conditions. The Department periodically conducts reviews to ensure continuing eligibility and to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The program is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following my announcement in April, there are currently over 2,850 Primary Schools across the country now...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government commits to ‘Introduce Pay-Related Parents Benefit and explore other payments where a similar model could be applied.’ Work is ongoing within my Department to examine potential models for a Pay-Related Parent’s Benefit. At this stage, an estimate of costings is not available. While payment rates are an important consideration, they...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public transport services and on private transport services operating the Free Travel scheme. As part of Budget 2025, the government announced that from September 2025, all those aged 70 years or over in receipt of Free Travel will have an entitlement to receive a Free Travel Companion Public Services Card (PSC). This means those...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce the Automatic Enrolment (AE) Retirement Savings System. The legislative basis for implementing the new system was enacted last July. The aim of introducing AE is to address the pension coverage gap that exists in Ireland and to provide workers with greater comfort and security regarding their retirement savings. I recently...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: In August 2023, my Department published a review of the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and Disability Awareness Support Scheme. The Reasonable Accommodation Fund provided financial support for people with disabilities and for employers to help make their workplaces more accessible. The Disability Awareness Support Scheme provided funding for disability awareness training for employees. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (21 May 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: Social Welfare Appeals (21 May 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: Social Welfare Appeals (21 May 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: Social Welfare Appeals (21 May 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: Social Welfare Eligibility (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Carer’s Support Grant (CSG) is an annual payment made to full-time carers who satisfy certain conditions. The person claiming the CSG must:Be aged 16 or over and ordinarily resident in this State.Care for the person on a full-time basis.Care for the person for a continuous period of at least six months – this period must include the first Thursday in June.Live with the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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 child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 21 January 2025. It is a necessary condition for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The person concerned reached pension age on 2 June 2023. An application for State Pension (contributory) was received on 21 October 2024. The person concerned was awarded the maximum rate of the state pension (contributory) with effect from 21 April 2024 which included the standard six months backdating from the date of receipt of the application. Following receipt of medical evidence, it...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department may make an Additional Needs Payment (ANP) to help meet expenses that an eligible person cannot pay from their weekly income. The ANP scheme is demand led and administered by Community Welfare Officers (CWOs) in the Community Welfare Service (CWS), taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Regeneration Projects (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) is a strategic capital investment fund that is key to the delivery of Ireland's rural development policy, Our Rural Future 2021-2025. RRDF provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns, villages and rural areas across Ireland. Funding is allocated to local authorities and other State-funded bodies, who...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 and 195 together. My Department administers a large number of schemes and programmes that support communities, community groups and organisations around the country, however it does not provide supports to individuals or households directly. Detailed information on all schemes and programmes, including details on eligibility criteria, the values of funds...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) provides funding for the development and enhancement of outdoor recreational infrastructure such as walking trails, cycleways, blueways and mountain access routes in rural areas. Last year, funding of over €20.3 million was announced for 221 projects under measures 1, 2 and 3 of the 2023 ORIS scheme. Almost €900,000 was...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Launched in 2022, the Town Centre First (TCF) Policy is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. TCF supports the Our Rural Future vision for a thriving rural Ireland by setting out a framework to facilitate and resource the regeneration of Irish towns to ensure they are vibrant, viable places to live, work,...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Schemes (21 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS) was introduced in 2016 and is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. Since the launch of the scheme over €177 million has been allocated to almost 1,800 projects. Of this more than €7 million has been allocated to 72 projects in County Laois. In April 2024, funding of...