Results 7,721-7,740 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Reasonable Accommodation Fund Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The reasonable accommodation fund assists employers to take appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability/impairment to have access to employment by providing a range of grants. These grants and supports include the workplace equipment adaptation grant, the personal reader grant, the job interview interpreter grant and the employee retention grant. The purpose of the scheme is to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Training (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection fully recognises the need to support staff and promote disability awareness and has been very proactive in the provision of training and supports in this area in recent years, with a very positive response from staff. The Department supports its staff by offering a suite of disability awareness training including Mental Health...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Partial Capacity Benefit Scheme Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The partial capacity benefit (PCB) scheme is designed for people who are on illness benefit, for at least six months, or on invalidity pension and who have retained some capacity for work and wish to work. If awarded, PCB will allow them to continue to receive, in addition to their earnings from employment, a percentage of their illness benefit or invalidity pension payment while working. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: There are currently 82 staff (78.05 full-time equivalent) working in the Social Welfare Appeals Office. The full year cost of increasing the staff complement by 10% would amount to approximately €375,000.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Unemployment Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: According to the Eurostat Labour Force Survey, in 2016 there were 170.76 million households in the EU (excluding households composed solely of students or solely of inactive people aged 65 and over). Of these, some 29.49 million households (17.3% of the total) were jobless - that is, no adult in the household was working. For Ireland, the total number of relevant households was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Investment Incentive Scheme Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Penalty rates were introduced as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, including implementing sanctions for failure to engage. The legislation underpinning the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures), published by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in 2014, includes a target to reduce by two-thirds the number of children in consistent poverty in 2011 by 2020. Meeting this target means lifting almost 95,000 children out of poverty. Under the BOBF Framework, the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The following tables provide the details which have been requested by the Deputy for the years 2012 to 2017 and to the end of February 2018. The figures provided in the tables for appeals which had a favourable outcome for the appellant relate to appeals which were either allowed in full or in part by an Appeals Officer, or which were resolved by way of a revised decision in favour of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The national social target for poverty reduction agreed by Government in 2012 is to reduce consistent poverty from 6.3% in 2010 to 4% by 2016 and to 2% or less by 2020. This was an ambitious target, particularly during a time of economic recession, but one to which the Government has remained committed. Data from the CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) indicate that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Consultancy Contracts Expenditure (29 Mar 2018)

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

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer having fully considered all the available evidence, including that adduced at oral hearing, disallowed the appeal of the person concerned. Notification of the Appeals Officer’s decision issued to the person concerned on 20thMarch 2018. The Social Welfare Appeals system is underpinned by Chapter 2 of Part 10 of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Applications (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned has been in receipt of rent supplement since 1/4/11 and all payments have been issued to-date. To ensure the rate of rent supplement entitlement is accurately assessed, the person concerned was requested to provide the Department with a SWA 3A Rent Supplement Review Form and v erification of income. On receipt of same, the rent supplement claim for the person concerned...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance Applications (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: An application for fuel allowance was received from the person concerned on 12 March 2018. Fuel allowance is a means-tested payment to assist householders on long-term social welfare payments towards the cost of their heating needs. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. One allowance is payable per household. The main eligibility conditions that apply to the fuel allowance scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Applications Data (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The information requested (where available) by the Deputy is detailed in the following tabular statement. Recipients of Farm Assist by County at the end of December in the years 2010 to 2017 and at the end of February 2018 Year February 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Carlow 56 60 58 69 76 75 84 95 102 Cavan 242 254 265 300 326 344 404 407 401 Clare 342 346 400 455 521 566...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The farm assist scheme supplements mostly small farms on bad agricultural land, mainly in the west of Ireland. Recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2018 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of approximately €74.1 million on the farm assist...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme (29 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 441 and 442 together. The rural social scheme (RSS) provides opportunities for farmers and fishermen/women who are currently in receipt of specified social welfare payments to work to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities. Communities benefit from the skills and talents of local farmers and fishermen and participants have the opportunity to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme Data (29 Mar 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: Social Welfare Code (28 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Self-employed workers who earn €5,000 or more in a contribution year, are liable for PRSI at the class S rate of 4%, subject to a minimum annual payment of €500. This provides them with access to the following benefits: State pension (contributory), widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s pension (contributory), guardian’s payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Local Employment Service (28 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Local Employment Services form part of the State’s public employment service. This service is managed by the Department of Social Protection and delivered directly by its own Intreo service as well as by contractors, such as JobPath, Local Employment Service, and Job Club providers. The expansion of the department’s activation capacity with the introduction of JobPath and the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Data (28 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not record the numbers who are referred to Community Employment (CE) centrally but rather the numbers who take up CE. The following table provides detail on the number of the participants which started each year in the period 2013 – 2017. Year Participants 2013 9,614 2014 12,102 2015 11,915 2016 11,010 2017 10,527 The...