Results 8,061-8,080 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Other Questions: Fuel Allowance Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The fuel allowance is a targeted payment of €22.50 per week, paid for the duration of the fuel season from October to April, and over 338,000 low income households benefit from this allowance, at an estimated cost of €227 million in 2018. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs, not to pay their full energy costs. One allowance is paid...

Other Questions: Fuel Allowance Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy is almost asking me what I will have for my dinner next Tuesday and I do not know what I will have for my dinner tonight. I cannot tell him what will happen in the context of budget conversations because they have not started. I know he is as keen as I am to get this sorted and have a substantial effect on the households he is talking about, but he also knows I want to do that...

Other Questions: Departmental Priorities (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Given that our Department is involved in income support, all the measures and the means test criteria that we go through from one scheme to the next have to be adhered to, but I totally recognise and agree with what the Deputy said. If we were starting with a blank page again, we would value and recognise from a monetary perspective the care that is being given by all our carers who are...

Other Questions: Departmental Priorities (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I cannot follow that. I agree with everything the Deputy said.

Other Questions: Public Services Card Authentication (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Nobody has been refused a payment for failure to produce a PSC. There is no legal basis for the card. People are asked to come in to identify themselves under the SAFE 2 authentication process to a standard that is acceptable to the Minister under the law. In the case to which the Deputy referred, the client had not gone through the SAFE process; it had nothing do with the PSC. The...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Code Reform (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy for his question. The treatment benefit scheme was made available to self-employed contributors for the first time from 27 March 2017. The benefits available at that time, which were free dental and optical exams and a contribution towards hearing aids, were extended to self-employed people. Between self-employed contributors and their dependent spouses, those changes...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Code Reform (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I agree with the Deputy. A working group was set up in my Department to examine and develop a benefits scheme for the self-employed who become unemployed. The group has now finished its work. I am specifically referring to jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit, which are probably the schemes that self-employed people tell us most often that they would love to access, from a...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Code Reform (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: This is a twofold system. All of the supports, encouragement and financial assistance to help people to establish their own businesses are available form the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation. They are growing, and given that more people have started to establish their own businesses, we can see that confidence is returning. However, Deputy Fitzpatrick is right. In our...

Other Questions: Departmental Priorities (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Since my appointment as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in June, I have been clear in outlining that my priorities include children living in consistent poverty, working families including lone parents and people on fixed incomes. I am very pleased about the positive policy developments impacting on all of these areas that are coming into effect this year, as outlined...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy has raised two separate issues. Let me be very clear, in case anybody thinks I am soft on this, bogus self-employment or disguised employment involves the wilful evasion of income tax, PRSI and social insurance liabilities and it will not be tolerated. There are mechanisms in place. I hear what the Deputy is saying about people not being given a choice but they have a choice to...

Other Questions: Jobseeker's Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The main social welfare schemes for people who are unemployed are jobseeker's allowance and benefit schemes which provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative employment for a short time. The 2018 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on these jobseeker's schemes of €2.17 billion. Lower weekly rates for younger...

Other Questions: Jobseeker's Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The only category we put all young people in is the fact they are all aged between 18 and 25. There is no basis for thinking they all live at home, that they all have green hair or that they all have four ears. The only category they are in is they are aged between 18 and 25. The targeted measure, aimed at protecting young people from welfare dependency, is to incentivise them to avail of...

Other Questions: Jobseeker's Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Instead of looking at the glass half empty, as the Deputy seems to be able to do very well, why does he not look at the reality that this time last year, 18% of our young people were unemployed while today, only 13% are unemployed? This means 5% of the people who have engaged over the past year with JobPath, community employment, jobs clubs, local employment services and Tús have...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department's scope insurability section is responsible for making those statutory decisions on insurability employment under the Social Welfare Act. While the Deputy might be concerned about its capacity and workload, it certainly does not have a problem looking at the instances that are being brought to its attention. The insurability decisions are based on evidence that is provided,...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not have the data the Deputy is looking for so I commit that I will come back to him with the number of cases scope has managed in recent years and the staff complement involved. I do not disagree with either Deputy. There is an issue with disguised employment in the country, but I can only go on the basis of the data I have. The numbers involved are not as large as anecdotally I had...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Again, I do not disagree with what the Deputy has said. I have not seen Senator Nash's Bill. I look forward to having a look at it, engaging with it-----

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: -----and, I hope, if I can, supporting it. Ultimately, what we need to do, and I think what we all want to do, is to ensure that those who feel they are being marginalised or put in vulnerable positions by being made misread or misstate their employment status feel they have recourse to someone. Again, if I have to strengthen the scope division, we will do so, but I genuinely do not think I...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Maintenance Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I reiterate that the State helps parents with supports such as the Family Mediation Service, the Legal Aid Board and free legal aid in co-operation with the courts where people present themselves looking to obtain maintenance. Regardless of whether I have a view, I have already explained that it is not within my remit to change the current family law. It comes under the remit of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Maintenance Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I will not say I agree with Deputy Brady because there are parts of what he stated I agree with and parts that I do not. I am trying to be clear to the Deputy in stating that it does not fall under the remit of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. On what Deputy Brady proposes, the family law legislation takes away the control of the courts and there is an...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 and 40 together. Bogus self-employment arises where an employer wrongly treats a worker as an independent contractor in order to avoid tax and social insurance contributions. There are already robust arrangements in place for dealing with complaints of bogus self-employment. Social welfare inspectors inspect a wide range of businesses, as part of...