Results 7,321-7,340 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service (25 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Abhaile was established in 2016 by the then Ministers for Justice and Social Protection, with the intention of being a three-year response to the impact of the financial crisis on mortgage arrears in Ireland, with a plan to wind down the service at the end of this three-year period. However, in 2019, taking account of continuing need, the Government approved a three-year extension to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Under the Roadmap for Social Inclusion and the Pathways to Work Strategy 2021-2025, my Department has committed to developing and consulting on a ‘strawman’ proposal for the restructuring of long-term disability payments, with a view to simplifying the system, removing inconsistencies and supporting employment. This process will provide an opportunity to examine the issues...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Professional Artist Scheme under the Jobseeker’s Allowance scheme is an initiative of the all-of-Government Creative Ireland Programme. The schemeacknowledges the status of self-employed artists in specified art forms and gives them a 12 month window to focus on building up their work before they became subject to labour market activation which is mandatory for most recipients of...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (25 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 216, 217 and 218 together. A vital part of my Department's mission is to support vibrant and sustainable communities across this country. In the 2022 Revised Estimates, my Department was allocated €378 million. This funding ensured that we were in a position to further assist communities in north Dublin and throughout the country seeking funding and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Recipients of the State Pension Contributory can continue to work with no limit to earnings. Currently, where a person is in receipt of the State Pension Contributory and is in employment, no employee social insurance contributions are payable and either a nil liability, or reduced rate, applies to their employer. The provision for Illness Benefit is paid only to people below State...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €412 million in 2023. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per household. Based on an estimated 450,000 recipients of the Fuel Allowance payment, the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of supports, energy efficiency awareness initiatives and investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. With regard to income supports, my Department provides a range of schemes to assist with energy costs subject to satisfying the relevant...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, at an estimated cost of €412 million in 2023. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per household. The criteria for Fuel Allowance are framed in order to direct the limited...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Welfare Service is committed to providing a quality service to all citizens, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Where it is clear that a person has an urgent or immediate need, every effort is made to ensure that the claim is processed on the same day. Community Welfare Officers are very experienced and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 14 July 2022. It is a statutory requirement...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Partial Capacity Benefit is a scheme which extends the Illness Benefit and Invalidity Pension schemes to recognise and respond to the reality that some people in receipt of these payments have a capacity to engage in open market employment while continuing to need to receive some income support from the State. People in receipt of Invalidity Pension or Illness Benefit (the latter for a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The matters referred to by the Deputy were considered by my Department under Action 12 of the Climate Action Plan 2019. A Working Group was established to consider Action 12 and finalised a report in December 2019, which was submitted to the then Minister in January 2020. Amongst other things, the Report proposed that, in light of current and forthcoming EU initiatives and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: State pension non-contributory is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. Recipients of state pension non-contributory are obliged to notify the Department of any changes in their circumstances...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 8 September 2022. It is a statutory...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an overarching term, that includes exceptional and urgent needs payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the customer’s own resources, and which are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 28 September 2022. It is a statutory...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. It is important to note that entitlement to these supports is generally not contingent on the nature of the illness or disability but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work. Budgetary provision is not...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The question refers to the position of a person whose partner has recently passed away and who is now parenting alone but who does not qualify for a Widow's, Widower's or Surviving Civil Partner's (Contributory) Pension. Firstly, I would like to offer my condolences to the person concerned. The Jobseeker's Transitional Payment is one of the supports that my Department provides for people...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 31 March 2014. An application for State Pension (contributory) was received on 25 May 2022. Under current eligibility conditions, an individual must have 520 full-rate paid contributions in order to qualify for standard State pension (contributory). 520 full-rate contributions equate to 10 years of full-rate insurable employment. Factors such...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (24 Jan 2023)

Heather Humphreys: I can confirm that my department received an application for disability allowance (DA) from the person concerned on 15 September 2022 and an application for carer’s allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 20 September 2022. The person concerned has been awarded full rate carers allowance with effect from 22 September 2022. The person concerned was notified in writing of this...