Results 7,821-7,840 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Ministerial Staff Data (21 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: All staff in my Department are Civil Servants and are appointed in compliance with the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004. While the great majority of these civil servants appointments are on foot of a competitive process in accordance with the “Code of Practice for Appointment to Positions in the Civil Service and Public Service”, a small...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Definitions (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Endometriosis (WHO ICD-10 code N80) is a gynaecological medical condition. It is recognised by this Department as a medical condition which may result in some form of disability. Medical suitability for a disability payment is determined by medical assessment.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance Data (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 922 and 923 together. The estimated amount of PRSI raised by increasing the employee and employer PRSI rates by 0.5% is provided in the following table: Rate Estimated Full Year Yield Increase Employer Lower Rate by 0.5% €18.2m Increase Employer Higher Rate by 0.5% €341.6m Increase Employee Rate by 0.5% €343.2m These estimates are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Banking (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Negative interest arises from the necessary application by the Central Bank of Ireland of the policies and decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB imposed negative interest rates on certain overnight deposits held with the Central Bank with effect from June 2014. This included SIF overnight balances in respect of PRSI receipts collected by the Revenue Commissioners (RC) and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Advertising Expenditure (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy is as set out in the following tables: Public Awareness Campaigns 2017 (Amounts are exclusive of VAT) Date Campaign Name Cost Social Media Spend Online Company Engaged March MyGovID €68,027 €6,500 €6,500 Engage Communications / MEC Ireland April Welfare Fraud €163,922 N/A €11,300 Creed / MEC Ireland April...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Training Support Grant (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Training Support Grant (TSG) funded by my Department is designed to facilitate quick access to short-term training that is identified to assist an individual jobseekers access immediate work opportunities. The scheme is activation focused and the jobseeker is required to provide reasonable evidence of need, in the form of a potential job offer or a requirement to maintain or achieve...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Legislative Measures (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: My officials and I are currently finalising a number of additional provisions for inclusion at Committee Stage of the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017. These provisions include important measures relating in particular to pensions and data protection. Subject to the additional provisions being finalised within the envisaged timescale, it is expected that the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: A policy to introduce the Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pensions calculation was adopted by Government in the National Pensions Framework in 2010, as was the decision to base the entitlements of all new pensioners on this approach from around 2020. The Government has announced its intention to proceed with that policy in its recently published Roadmap for Pensions Reform. To that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Applications (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (formerly Family Income Supplement) is a weekly tax free payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. An application for Working Family Payment (WFP) was received from the person concerned on 23rd January 2018 and assigned to a Deciding Officer (DO) on 29thJanuary 2018. However, the application was referred to a local...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card Authentication (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: A Public Services Card (PSC) may be issued to a person who has successfully completed a SAFE 2 registration. As part of the SAFE registration process, a person’s identity is verified, usually by means of acceptable photographic ID. Where an Irish citizen person does not have acceptable photographic ID, their identity may be verified by means of an interview process. ML10 forms are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The following is the position with regard to civil service appointments to my Department via a route other than the Public Appointments Service (PAS): 1. I have appointed two Special Advisers, at the grade of Principal, in accordance with the Public Service Management Act, 1997 and the Guidelines on Staffing of Ministerial Offices issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: In responding to the recent severe weather event my Department sought to continue to deliver essential services where possible, subject at all times to the need to protect the safety of staff and customers. In deciding on office closures due regard was had to the advice of the National Emergency Coordination Group. I can assure the Deputy that where offices were closed and staff were...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Court Judgments (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The recent court proceedings whereby an individual sought leave for judicial review to challenge decisions taken by my Department were refused by the High Court in the judgment delivered on 26th January 2018. I want to emphasise to the Deputy that there are no recent court decisions which have implications for the application of penalty rates by my Department and there is no basis for the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 935 and 936 together. The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot comment on issues relating to a particular pension scheme. However, generally speaking, trustees of pension schemes have duties and responsibilities under the Pensions Act, under trust law, and under other relevant legislation. They must administer the trust in accordance with the law and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Housing Assistance Payment (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme is administered by Local Authorities and overall policy responsibility for HAP rests with my colleague the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. Matters relating to the processing times for HAP applications and the payment of arrears are primarily a matter for that Department. Notwithstanding this, I understand that arrears may...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card Data (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department is implementing SAFE 2 registration on a phased basis with its customers and customers of other public services that require identity verification to a substantial level of assurance. It is a standard for establishing and verifying an individual’s identity for the purposes of accessing public services which was agreed by the Government in 2005 During SAFE registration,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: An application for carer's allowance was received from the person concerned on 27 November 2017 in respect of two care recipients. The application was awarded to the person concerned on 8 March 2018 and the first payment is due to issue to their nominated bank account on 29 March 2018. Arrears of allowance due from 30 November 2017 to 28 March 2018 will issue in shortly. The person concerned...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The provision of payments is a critical function of the Department for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. My Department has robust contingency plans in place to ensure the minimisation of any disruption which would impact on our ability to make payments to our customers. My Department is also represented on the National Emergency Coordination Group (NECG) with a view to ensuring a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: The fuel allowance is a payment of €22.50 per week for 27 weeks from October to April, to over 365,000 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Sick Pay Scheme (20 Mar 2018)

Regina Doherty: In general, an employee has no right under employment law to be paid while on sick leave. Consequently, it is at the discretion of the employer to decide their own policy on sick pay and sick leave, subject to the employee’s contract or terms of employment. Under Section 3 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 an employer must provide an employee with a written statement of...