Results 7,281-7,300 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance Data (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The fuel allowance is a payment of €22.50 per week from October to April, to over 338,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €227 million in 2018. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Only...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Maintenance Payments (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: As I advised the Deputy in response to recent questions on this issue, the establishment of a service to assist lone parents to seek child maintenance payments would be a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, as the Family Law Acts, which place a legal obligation on parents to maintain their children, are under the remit of that Department. In cases where the family...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Scheme trustees have duties and responsibilities under trust law, under other relevant legislation and under the Pensions Act, 1990, as amended. The duties of pension scheme trustees include administering the trust in accordance with the law and the terms of the trust deed and rules. Consequently any decisions made by corporate or individual trustees of an occupational pension scheme are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) formally advised my Department, on 21st February 2018, that their first preliminary report on the PSC would be sent the Department in mid-March for comment. The second preliminary report on MyGovID, Single Customer View and the Public Service Identity was to be sent by April for comment. No further communication has been received from...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Advertising Expenditure (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State. In 2016, some 1.7 million applications for benefits, assistance and access to schemes were received and processed, and over 82 million individual payments were made to people across all age groups and to employers. The Department is fully committed to ensuring that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: SAFE Level 2 (SAFE 2) registration, used by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, allows a person to verify their identity once, not just for access to services provided by my Department but also for an increasing number of public services provided by other State agencies. Once a person is registered to SAFE 2, they can be issued with a Public Services Card (PSC). There...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Benefit Payments (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and who are available for and genuinely seeking full-time employment. The 2018 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseekers’ schemes of €2.17 billion. An increase for a Qualified Child (IQC) is normally payable until the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department of Social Protection provides a wide range of second chance education opportunities for unemployed people, lone parents and people with disabilities under the back to education programme. The objective is to raise education and skills among the long term unemployed to meet the requirements of the modern labour market. The back to education programme provides a comprehensive...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Transitional Payment (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: At the end of April 2018, 14,469 people were in receipt of Jobseeker’s Transition Payment (JST), and 39,348 people were in receipt of the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP).I note that both of these payments are only available to parents who are bringing children up without the support of a partner.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Partial Capacity Benefit Scheme Data (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: There were 2,361 persons in receipt of partial capacity benefit at the end of April 2018.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to persons who are habitually resident in the State and are providing full-time care and attention to a person who has such a disability that they require that level of care.Full-time care and attention is defined as requiring from another person, continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Applications (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: An application for Working Family Payment (WFP) was received from the person concerned on 30 April 2018. At the time of application, the person concerned was in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance (JA) which is not payable with WFP. This customer’s JA was closed on 16 May 2018 so WFP has been awarded and will be paid to their bank account on 18 May 2018. I trust this clarifies the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Insolvency Payments Scheme Payments (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The purpose of the insolvency payments scheme, which operates under the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act, 1984, which, in turn, derives from EU Council Directive 987/80, is to protect certain outstanding pay-related entitlements due to employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer. Where a person’s former employer was a limited company, the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Delays (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: 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. The target processing time for the carer’s allowance scheme is to award 70% of new claims within 12 weeks. This can be challenging because of the complexities of the application...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Applications (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (WFP), formerly known as Family Income Supplement, is a weekly tax-free payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. WFP is paid for fifty-two weeks and a person must re-apply at the end of each fifty-two week period to have their payment renewed. The Working Family Payment of the person concerned is due for renewal on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Legislation (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: While it is not appropriate for me to comment on an individual pension scheme, I am aware of recent announcements regarding the pension scheme in question and plans to close the scheme to future accrual. Neither I nor the Pensions Authority has the power under legislation to intervene to compel an employer to continue to make contributions to a scheme. Even where a scheme is closed to new...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Bereavement Leave (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: There is no statutory entitlement to bereavement leave in Irish legislation. Bereavement leave is normally granted at the discretion of the employer. My colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality has policy responsibility for maternity leave, parental leave, carer's leave, and force majeure leave. So the issue of bereavement leave would fall within this category of compassionate...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension Eligibility (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 254 and 255 together. To qualify for a Widow’s, Widower’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Non Contributory Pension, the applicant must be a widow, widower or a surviving civil partner, who is not involved in a cohabiting relationship. In the course of review and investigation of the continued eligibility for this pension, the customer...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The rental property of the persons concerned is in an area designated as a Rental Pressure Zone. Rents for properties in a Rental Pressure Zone, are only permitted to rise according to a prescribed formula by a maximum of 4% annually. The persons concerned informed my Department that their rent had been increased to €1300 per calendar from 1 December 2017 which is in excess of the 4%...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Payments (17 May 2018)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned had a claim for child benefit disallowed on 3 May on the grounds that she is not considered habitually resident in the State. As she is awaiting a decision from the Irish Naturalisation & Immigration Service regarding her permission to reside in the State she cannot be regarded as habitually resident. Subsection (5) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005,...