Results 8,501-8,520 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Offices (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Interviews for the Branch Manager position in Macroom, Co Cork were held on 14th of September 2017 and a preferred candidate emerged from the open recruitment competition to select a new Manager. Discussions with the candidate selected, regarding the final details of the office accommodation to be provided, have been concluded and, I as Minister, approved the appointment of the new Branch...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: There are 93,000 clients currently engaged with JobPath of which 483, or 0.5%, currently have a penalty rate applied to their claim. This figure is consistent with the overall level of penalty rate applied across all Job Seekers. In total since the JobPath service commenced, approximately 6,500 or 4.6% of the 141,000 clients who had engaged with the JobPath service (between July 2015 and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Penalty rates were introduced as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment. The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, including implementing sanctions for failure to engage. The application of penalty rates is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizen Information Services (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Citizens Information Board (CIB), which has the statutory responsibility for the Citizens Information Service (CIS) and the Money and Advice Budgeting Service (MABS) decided in February 2017 to restructure its governance arrangements. The first phase of implementation is underway in the areas of South Dublin, North Leinster (Kildare, Longford, Louth, Meath and Westmeath) and South...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizen Information Services (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The aim of the decision by the Board of the Citizens information Board (CIB) to restructure local Citizens Information Services (CIS) and Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) company boards is to improve the governance arrangements with its downstream service delivery partners. It must be remembered that citizen centric CIS and MABS services are 100% funded by the Exchequer. It is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Data (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The latest CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) results for 2016 shows that people in households headed by a person whose principal economic status is not at work due to illness or disability continue to experience higher at risk and consistent poverty rates than the general population. The survey also shows that social transfers play a very significant role in reducing poverty...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The purpose of SAFE 2 registration is to verify a person’s identity to a substantial level of assurance. Once identity is so verified, a Public Services Card can be issued as a physical token of proof of that identity verification. My Department makes it clear to our customers that they need to complete a SAFE 2 registration to access, or continue to access, payments and entitlements....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Mental Health Services Provision (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Through the operation of the income support system managed by my Department and the health service managed by the HSE, the Government recognises the need for flexible and effective support for persons who encounter mental health difficulties. Recent research by the ESRI and the OECD has drawn attention to the prevalence of mental health conditions in the working-age population. Both an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Social welfare legislation provides for the disregard of certain compensation awards when assessing the means of a person for social assistance schemes. This includes all income derived from compensation awarded by the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal, by the Residential Institutions Redress Board and in relation to disability caused by thalidomide. Any payment made by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Pensions reform is a Government priority and I can confirm an intention to publish and commence the implementation of a pensions reform plan in the near future. The plan will include measures relating to the introduction of a ‘Total Contributions Approach’ to the State pension for new pensioners, reform and simplification of the current supplementary pension landscape and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Rights (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Ireland has a comprehensive suite of employment rights legislation including measures to prevent exploitation in the workplace. We have a well-resourced labour inspectorate within the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), which is mandated to secure compliance with employment legislation. In addition, where employees believe that they have been deprived of an employment right, they may...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Non-Contributory) (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Department has a duty to ensure that it pays the right person the right amount of money at the right time. It is important that all schemes operated by the Department, including State Pension (non-contributory), are subject to ongoing control reviews and continuing eligibility checks. This includes conducting fraud and error surveys which serve to reaffirm the entitlement of randomly...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 29 and 39 together. There are three main State pensions. First, the State pension non-contributory is a means-tested pension funded from taxation. Second, the State pension contributory, which is not means-tested, is paid from the Social Insurance Fund, and is funded via the PRSI system. The third main state pension available to some people over 66 is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions Reform (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 30 and 37 together. There are no plans to reinstate the State Pension Transition. The Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 provided that State pension age will be increased gradually to 68 years. This began in January 2014 with the abolition of the State pension (transition) which was available to people aged 65 who satisfied the qualifying conditions....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Unemployment Levels (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The official measure of unemployment is sourced from the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS). The most recent data show that unemployment has fallen from a peak of 15% in 2012 to 6.2% by mid-2017. Numbers at work have increased from just over 1.83 million in Quarter 2, 2012 to 2.06 million in Quarter 2, 2017 – an increase of 227,000 persons. Within the South East region,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payments (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 32, 38, 217 and 229 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. An urgent needs payment (UNP) is a once-off payment made to persons who may not...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot comment on issues relating to a particular pension scheme. However, generally speaking, trustees of pension schemes have duties and responsibilities under trust law, under other relevant legislation and under the Pensions Act. They must administer the trust in accordance with the law and the terms of the trust deed and rules. The provisions of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Operations (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department published a tender for the supply of technical support and advice in respect of the SAFE Programme on the 5thof January 2018. My Department requires independent expertise; advice and support in the area of electronic card and chip technology to support work being undertaken under the SAFE / Public Services Card (PSC) Project on behalf of all public bodies. This expertise and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Data (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The best way to tackle poverty among lone parents is through employment and the recently published Indecon report echoed this view. The report found that the changes to the one-parent family payment scheme made over the last number of years increased employment and reduced welfare dependency. It also found that the changes increased the probability of employment and higher employment income...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the tables. Invalidity Pension and Disability Allowance claims registered, awarded and rejected on appeal in each year 2015 to 2017. Claims may be decided in a different year from the year of registration. Invalidity Pension - Registered Awarded Rejected 2015 9,454 7,691 5,070 2016 9,134 7,467 3,909 2017 10,458 8,976 4,579 ...