Results 8,161-8,180 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Film Industry (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: 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 robust arrangements in place for dealing with complaints of bogus self-employment. Social welfare inspectors inspect a wide range of businesses, as part of their on-going compliance operations. Inspections are also undertaken...

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

Regina Doherty: Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which entitles them to access long-term benefits such as state pension (contributory) and widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's pension (contributory) as well as guardians payment (contributory), maternity benefit, paternity benefit and adoptive benefit. Ordinary employees who have access to the full range of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Data (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Further to parliamentary question numbers 310 and 311 of 7 March 2017 the number of Community Employment (CE) projects for 2017 is provided by county, in tabular form in table 1. In addition, the total number of participants and supervisors for 2017 is provided in table 2. The details for 2018 is currently being compiled and will be forwarded directly to the Deputy, together with the number...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Overpayments of social welfare assistance and benefit payments arise as a consequence of decisions made under the relevant sections of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005. As part of the process of finalising a decision and assessing an overpayment, the deciding officer or designated person (in the case of the administration of payments under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Article 70(3)(a) of Statutory Instrument No. 312 of 1996 (Social Welfare (Consolidated Contributions and Insurability) Regulations 1996 allows the award of employment contributions to a person which have not been paid, in circumstances where this has not occurred with their consent or connivance, or due to their negligence. The Department will carry out a review of the record of any customer...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Measures (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Government policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. First, through policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, to create an environment in which business can succeed and create jobs; and second, through Pathways to Work, to ensure that as many as possible of these new jobs and other vacancies that arise in our economy are filled by people taken from the Live Register, including young...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Waiting Times (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The prompt processing of applications remains a priority for my Department. Each scheme area is continuously monitored and reviewed to ensure customers are responded to as quickly as possible, and their applications are processed as expeditiously as possible. All applications are registered promptly. In some schemes, this is done through the scanning of claim documents onto the system...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payments (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 573 and 576 together. Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Department may make an urgent needs payment (UNP) to a person who may not...

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

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 574 and 575 together. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. I am advised by the Chief Appeals Officer that there were 269 state pension (contributory)...

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

Regina Doherty: For certain social insurance schemes, namely illness benefit, jobseeker’s benefit and health and safety benefit, graduated rates apply where the average weekly earnings are less than €300 per week. The rate of payment depends on the person’s level of earnings in the governing PRSI contribution year. For illness benefit claims made in 2018, the governing contribution...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The tables below provide the details which have been requested by the Deputy in respect of 2016 and 2017. The schemes with the highest number of...

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

Regina Doherty: Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting some 33,400 recipients for which the Government has provided €180 million for in 2018. Continued entitlement to rent supplement is not linked to entitlement to other social welfare schemes, however the rent supplement claim may be reviewed following a decision to suspend or disallow...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Data (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: Irish youth unemployment has fallen from a peak of 31.2% in 2012 to 13.7% in January 2018. Irish youth unemployment has thus fallen from well above the EU average in 2012 (23%) to well below the current figure EU figure of 19.1%. The long-term unemployment rate for young people has fallen from over 15% at peak to below 4% in the third quarter of 2017. Youth unemployment figures can be...

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

Regina Doherty: Government policy to reduce unemployment is twofold. First, through policies set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, to create an environment in which business can succeed and create jobs; and second, through Pathways to Work to ensure that as many of these new jobs and other vacancies that arise in our economy are filled by people taken from the Live Register, and in particular the long-term...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (20 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I understand the Deputy’s question relates to the outcome of appeals made to the Social Welfare Appeals Office over the past four years. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The...

Report on Lone Parents: Motion (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I wish to refer to one or two points that were made in the debate. Deputy Curran referred to the fact that due to some of the changes we made since 2012, the jobseeker's transitional, JST, payment may be a better payment for some people than the working family payment. He is correct, but it is not something we in the Department see as a difficulty because in those cases the JST payment will...

Report on Lone Parents: Motion (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the report on the position of lone parents in Ireland produced by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection and thank the committee for its extensive body of work. I had a chance to speak on this in the Seanad last October and welcome the opportunity to debate this further in the Dáil this evening. There...

Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Referral to Select Committee (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: I move:That the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 be referred to the Select Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection pursuant to Standing Orders 84A(3)(a) and 149(1).

Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Feb 2018)

Regina Doherty: We need to get past that issue. To that end, I will conduct a very large advertising campaign this year. People should not be afraid. I am not saying the scary examples the Deputy gave are not true, but in that case I need to do more to make sure people are not afraid. The penalisation measures included in the Bill, with what is in place in the scope division, will be complementary to...