Results 8,701-8,720 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: Through the Chair, there is an amendment from the Dáil. I will issue the report that is being prepared by my Department with its recommendations to fix the anomaly the day I bring it to Cabinet.That is what is agreed. I am going to do that anyway.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: I might be able to tick all of those boxes. The reason I think these measures got through the gender proofing test is that it does not just affect women. I know it affects more women than men, but only marginally. Those affected are 60% women and 40% men, so we are nearly equally discriminatory to both sexes. That still does not make it all right. Let us talk about the three different...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The anomaly is going to be dealt with in January, so that is separate. For those people the Senator is talking about, when we introduced total contributions, it was not just for new entrants so there will be a period where people who are currently being adjudicated under the averaging system can move to total contributions. I do not know if the period will be one year or three years as that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Data (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: A public procurement process for the provision of the JobPath service was conducted in accordance with EU and Irish procurement rules. On 12 December 2013, my Department published a Prior Information Notice (PIN) and a request for tenders (RFT) notice on both the Government etenders website(www.etenders.gov.ie)and on the website of the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). That...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 237 to 239, inclusive, and 241 together. Community Employment (CE) schemes are typically sponsored by groups (known as CE sponsors) wishing to benefit the local community. The CE sponsoring organisations are the legal employers of CE supervisors and assistant supervisors. My Department is committed to modernising its service delivery and developing systems to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Review (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: Following the publication, earlier this year, of my Department’s Report - An Analysis of the Community Employment Programme - the Government approved a number of changes to the terms and conditions of participation on CE. The main purpose of the changes is to broaden access to CE to a wider range of people. The changes saw the general qualifying age for CE, for those on the live...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) Sponsoring Organisations are the legal employers of CE Supervisors. The Department funds the statutory holiday entitlement for CE Supervisors which, depending on the hours worked, is usually 20 days plus public holidays. There has been no change to the number of annual leave days funded for CE Supervisors since the Department took on responsibility for the CE...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors are employees of private companies in the community and voluntary sector. The State is not responsible for funding pension arrangements for such employees even where the companies in question are reliant on State funding and the Department was neither party to or bound by the Labour Court Recommendation (LCR19293). It is open to individuals to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: My Department provides funding to Community Employment (CE) Sponsoring Organisations on the basis of an annual contract agreement. The CE Sponsors are the legal employers of CE supervisors and the duration for which the Sponsor contracts with the supervisor is a matter between the two parties. However, the Department provides funding for the duration of the agreement (1 year). It is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Household Benefits Scheme (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The household benefits package (HHB) comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. My Department will spend approximately €232 million this year on the household benefits package for over 434,000 customers. The package is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The person concerned was awarded maximum personal rate of state pension (contributory) from 18 February 2017, their 66th birthday. An increase for qualified adult was not awarded at that time as the person’s spouse was in receipt of a social welfare payment at a higher rate in their own right. Written notification of these decisions issued to the claimant on 17 January 2017. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Redeployment (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continuously reviewed, taking account of workloads, management priorities and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Back to Education Allowance Scheme (BTEA) is designed to support second chance education. It enables eligible persons to pursue approved education courses and to continue to receive income support for the duration of a course of study, subject to meeting certain conditions. Access to BTEA at postgraduate level is limited. BTEA is only payable to persons who wish to pursue a postgraduate...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The changes made to State Pension (contributory) rate bands in Budget 2012, affected those pensioners who had a yearly average of 39 or less weekly social insurance contributions over the course of their working life. The current rate bands were introduced from September 2012, replacing previous rates introduced in 2000. The rate bands in place between 2000 and 2012 were more generous...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Income Data (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The latest EUROSTAT European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data show that the severe material deprivation rate for lone parent households in Ireland was 22.6% in 2015. This is the second successive year the rate has reduced – representing a 9.7 percentage point reduction on the 2013 rate of 32.3%. The Irish rate compares to the EU average of 17.1% in 2015 - see Table 1...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The most recent EUROSTAT data shows that some 8.9% of children in Ireland were severely materially deprived in 2015, as compared to a EU28 average rate of 9.6% (see Table 1).This is an improvement on 2014 where the rates were 10.1% and 10.4% respectively.Given the continuing economic recovery throughout 2017 and measures introduced in Budgets 2016, 2017 and 2018, I expect the severe material...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The information (where available) requested by the Deputy is detailed in the following table: Average time to Award by scheme at 31 October 2017 Schemes Average time to award (weeks) Jobseeker's Benefit 1 Jobseeker's Allowance 2 One-Parent Family Payment 5 State Pension Contributory (Dom) 5 Widow, Widower’s and Surviving Civil Partners Contributory Pension 1...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The table provides the details which have been requested by the Deputy to the end of November 2017. Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent years. As a result, appeal processing times improved between 2011 and 2016 from 52.5 weeks for an oral hearing in 2011 to 24.1 weeks in 2016 and from 25.1 weeks for a summary decision in 2011 to 17.6...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Consultancy Contracts Expenditure (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The information requested is currently being compiled by my Department and will be provided to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Question Heading for question(s) 256 (13 Dec 2017)

Regina Doherty: The full cost of the Department’s 2017 fraud and control awareness campaign came to €163,922 excluding VAT. This includes all design and advertising costs associated with the campaign (print advertising, national and regional radio advertising, outdoor and online/digital advertising). No additional costs arose in staff resources, website development or in the provision of the...