Results 61-80 of 17,038 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce the Automatic Enrolment (AE) Retirement Savings System. The aim of introducing AE is to address the pension coverage gap that exists in Ireland and to provide workers with greater comfort and security regarding their retirement income. The new system - to be known as My Future Fund - will commence from 1 January 2026. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Prices (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Energy credits are a matter for the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment. The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of financial supports, energy efficiency awareness initiatives and investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. In this regard as part of Budget 2026...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Domestic Violence (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a priority for the Government. The Programme for Government includes a number of commitments in this regard. Establishing a zero-tolerance approach to domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence is essential for safeguarding individuals and promoting a safer society. My Department already has provisions in place in the Rent Supplement...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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. The Nutritional Standards for School Meals have been in place since its inception and were developed by...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed to supporting jobseekers in finding and sustaining employment. The national employment services strategy, Pathways to Work 2021-2025, was developed to support employment and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the years since its publication, unemployment has fallen to record low levels, standing at 4.8% according to latest CSO figures, with 5%...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is committed to ensuring that only those people who are eligible, receive welfare and other payments. Achieving this requires that robust safeguards are in place that secure our payment systems, detect possible fraud and error, and prevent possible fraudulent claiming. A range of verification processes are employed to validate and verify the information provided by an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of claims for Disability Allowance that were rejected as well as the number of claims that were successfully appealed for each year from 2015 - 2024 are shown in the table below. Please note that not all claims that were rejected resulted in an appeal. Also note that not all appeals are for rejected claims as claimants can also make an appeal on a reduced rate of payment as a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Data Protection (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: In July 2021, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) commenced an own volition inquiry into the department’s processing of biometric data in connection with the authentication of identity by way of the SAFE registration process and the issuing of Public Services Cards (PSC). My Department received a copy of the DPC's final decision on 9th June 2025. The DPC decision does not find...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Job Losses (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 140 together. My Department is making every effort to support affected workers at this time. On receiving the notification of proposed collective redundancy from the company concerned, my Department’s Employer Relations team made contact with the company to arrange to meet locally with affected employees to provide information on income,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department of Social Protection provides a suite of income supports to disabled people, including Disability Allowance, Blind Pension, Invalidity Pension and Partial Capacity Benefit. Disability Allowance is my Department's primary disability related social assistance scheme. The payment is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a habitual residency requirement. The means...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am very conscious of the need to target support to those people who most require help with their energy costs. Therefore, as part of Budget 2026 I was pleased to announce that I had secured funding for an increase in the weekly rate and a number of expansion measures in relation to the Fuel Allowance scheme. In recognition of the importance of helping low paid working families, I...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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. In Budget 2025, it was announced that the Hot School Meals Scheme will be extended to all remaining...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department offers a range of employment schemes and other supports to encourage long-term unemployed people to return to work, while also assisting communities across the country in the provision of vital services. They are targeted at people who have been on an unemployment payment or certain other social welfare payments for a specific period of time. CE and Tús are employment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly non-means-tested payment to a parent or guardian for a child aged up to 16 who has a severe disability. The child must require care and attention substantially over and above that required by other children their age. Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance ceases when a child reaches 16 years of age. This aligns with the age of eligibility for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Rural Social Scheme (RSS) is an income support scheme that provides part-time employment opportunities for farmers and fishers in receipt of specified social welfare payments, and who are underemployed in their primary occupation. The valuable work undertaken by participants draws on their existing skills which may be further developed and shared throughout their participation. My...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Primary weekly social welfare payments are intended to enable recipients to meet their basic day-to-day income needs. Payments available to those over 66 include the State Pension (Contributory), State Pension (Non-Contributory) and the Bereaved Partners' Contributory Pension. The rate of primary and secondary payments to pensioners, and their adequacy, are considered in the context of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Jobseekers engaging with Intreo Employment Services can avail of a number of avenues into training and upskilling. My Department works closely with the Department of Further and Higher Education and SOLAS to address barriers in, and increase uptake of further education and training. In Pathways To Work 2021-2025, the national employment services strategy, the Government committed to providing...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: In Budget 2026, it was announced that Working Family Payment will become a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance from March 2026. As of the end of October 2025, there are 665 people in Carlow and 871 in Kilkenny who are receiving Working Family Payment and are not living in a household where a Fuel Allowance is in payment. These recipients will potentially become eligible to receive Fuel...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rights of People with Disabilities (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: According to Census 2022, 49.3% of people with disabilities of working age were in employment. My Department provides a range of programmes and schemes to enable access to the workplace for disabled people, with the aim of increasing the employment participation rate of disabled people. My Department's Intreo service is a single point of contact for all employment and income supports in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget 2026 (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Budget 2026 included a range of measures that will benefit lone parents, such as:A €10 per week increase to the personal rate of the One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment. The increases will directly benefit some 113,000 children whose parents are in receipt of these payments.The largest ever increase in the Child Support Payment, which increased by...