Results 61-80 of 20,546 for speaker:Heather Humphreys in 'Written Answers'

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Circulars (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: A Circular for One-Parent Family and Jobseeker's Transitional Payments is currently being prepared which will provide guidance on the new rules regarding disregarding maintenance payments paid to a person in respect of a child. Once the legislation has been finalised guidance for staff will issue. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: 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 programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance is payable in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of that disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 28 June 2023. To date, there is no record of receipt of an application for state pension (contributory). In order for entitlement to be determined, an application must be submitted to my department. I have arranged for an application form to issue along with a copy of their insurance record. On receipt of the completed application, their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 379 and 380 together. The Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) is an assessment of the minimum income needed to live and partake in the social and economic norms of everyday life for various household types. One of the benefits of the work of the Vincentian MESL Research Centre is that it provides an analysis of the different levels of income...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: 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. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 8 April...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Websites (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: 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 a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions. My Department is committed to making services and information accessible to all,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Personal Public Service Numbers (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The number of Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection from Ukraine in receipt of welfare supports at end January 2024, end February 2024 or end March 2024 stood at 76,633 persons. This figure includes children and adults of all ages. The data by county requested by the Deputy is shown in the following table. Information on taxes paid is relevant to the Revenue Commissioners and is not...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: International Protection (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My department administers the Daily Expenses Allowance which is paid to international protection applicants who reside in, or are waiting for, accommodation provided by the International Protection Accommodation Services. The current weekly rates of payment are €38.80 per adult and €29.80 per child. An increased rate of €113.80 per week for an adult applies where a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Illness benefit is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class. The person must have made the required number of contributions under Class A, E, H or P to qualify. In general,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: A Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018 - 2023 committed to: (i) set a formal benchmark of 34% of average earnings for State pension contributory payments, and (ii) Institute a process whereby future changes in pension rates of payment are explicitly linked to changes in the consumer price index and average wages. The approach proposed by the Department, known as the smoothed...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Roadmap for Social Inclusion contains a commitment to develop a benchmarking approach for use in adjusting the value of State pension payments. The approach proposed by the Department, known as the 'smoothed earnings' approach, was subsequently endorsed by the Pensions Commission. Government subsequently decided that the Department of Social Protection would, in submitting budget...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Free Travel scheme is available to people over 66 years and to people in receipt of certain social welfare payments who are under 66 years. From 29th July 2024, Free Travel is also available to persons who are medically certified as unfit to drive for a period of at least 12 months. Free Travel recipients must be permanently resident in the State. The scheme permits travel for free on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is the safety net within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The estimated full year cost of increasing the rate of payment by an additional €90.30, from €141.70 to €232 per week, is €73 million. This includes a proportionate increase for qualified adults and those on an age-reduced rate of Supplementary Welfare Allowance. This costing is based on the estimated average number of recipients in 2024, and is subject to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 391 to 393, inclusive, together. Jobseeker's Allowance is a payment to people who are unemployed but are available for and genuinely seeking full time employment. It is a means-tested payment, so a person's income must be below a certain amount in order to qualify for a Jobseeker's Allowance payment. For the week ending 12th May 2024, there were 13,719...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Correspondence (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a range of employment services to support jobseekers in preparing for, securing, and sustaining employment. These services are either provided directly by my Department’s own staff, or on behalf of my Department through Intreo Partners and other service providers in both the community and voluntary and commercial sectors. Turas Nua is one of our Intreo Partners....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: 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 programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 6 March 2024. An application for state pension (contributory) was received in my Department on 27 March 2024. According to the records of my department, the person concerned has a total of 1,797 reckonable contributions from 1977 to 2024 giving a yearly average of 38. Based on this record, the state pension (contributory) has been awarded at the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (21 May 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The data requested by the Deputy on the number of recipients end April 2024 is shown in the following table. Scheme Number of recipients Accommodation Recognition Claim 10,770 Adoptive Parent Benefit 10 Back to Education Allowance 2,999 Back to Work Enterprise Allowance 1,887 ...