Results 8,341-8,360 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: I am very committed to that programme, as Deputy Ó Cuív will know. It has been expanded, and 270,000 or maybe more children avail of the school meals programme now. I want to ramp up the hot school meals programme. I am also conscious that the cost of food has gone up. The suppliers get €2.90 per hot meal. That is the rate at the minute. There is an evaluation, however,...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: If it is resolved, it is resolved, but if the Deputy still wants to give me the details-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: Then you wonder why you should have to go around the mountain. If the Deputy wants to give me the details, I am happy to look at the case so maybe we can make some tweaks to some things. That said, if you make a tweak for one thing, you can have a whole platter of stuff on your plate you did not realise was coming.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: The carer's allowance is part of the supports that provide payments on the basis of income need. The means test plays a critical role in determining whether an income need arises as a consequence of a particular contingency, be that illness, disability, employment or caring. The disregards relating to the means test for carer's allowance are among the highest in the social protection...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: The legislation is in the budget-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: Of the administration overspend, €11.5 million is going on pay, which covers the cost of increases in 2022 due under the Building Momentum public service agreement. There also has been an increase in the use of overtime to meet the additional demands on the Department's community welfare service arising from the cost-of-living crisis and the Ukraine crisis and to deal with significant...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: Yes. There is a lot of it made up of that.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: Yes. I might come back to the Chair. The administration expenses on the SIF are apportioned between the Vote and the SIF schemes. PUP is a SIF scheme but the numbers on the scheme were much higher than envisaged in the original Estimate. There are also much higher numbers of the Covid illness benefit. That is part of the reason for the overspend on the administration side. Am I making sense?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: I am not making sense. To which subhead is the Chair referring?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: Yes, and the PUP. Some of the PUP payments were out of the SIF so there was increased administration there. They were much higher than the original Estimate. The PUP was paid for much longer because of the new variant at the time. Those are the reasons. Is that okay?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: The Chair mentioned my earlier statement on the PUP. It is not just the PUP, but also the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and the other supports. The Chair is right there. I came under pressure at the time and it was said that people were not going to work because they were getting the PUP. The truth is that when jobs were available and the economy opened up again, people went...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: It should be.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: I am aware of it too and we want to iron out any difficulties in the system. There is no doubt about that. We will get the long Covid statistics for the Chair.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: I think that is it. I think I have answered the questions.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: I thank the Chairman and members of the committee. As they will all know at this stage, I was very keen that the Department of Rural and Community Development was kept as a stand-alone Department, which is why I have two separate Supplementary Estimates before the committee today. I am happy now to give a brief overview of the Supplementary Estimates for the Department of Rural and...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising those issues. In terms of energy, the GAA clubs and all of the sports organisations apply to the Department with responsibility for sport. Then there is support for businesses. I wanted to make sure that the community and voluntary sector got the support it needed. We have a €10 million fund that is being administered by Pobal on our behalf. If an...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. I will start with energy support. We need to spend what we can this year. The bills are here now. We can look at it again next year, but we cannot spend the 2022 money next year. In fairness, we have been good at getting the money out. We encourage people to submit applications so that we can get the money out as quickly as possible. We cannot carry over money but we...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: That is correct.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: Yes, to LEADER.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2022) Heather Humphreys: The carryover goes into the overall-----