Results 8,941-8,960 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: I was pleased to announce on Budget Day that an 85% Christmas bonus will be paid this year to over 1.2 million long-term social welfare recipients, such as pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, lone parents and long-term jobseekers at a cost of €219 million. Payment of the Bonus commenced this week from Monday 27thNovember and most eligible recipients will receive the Bonus...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Data (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The official measure of unemployment, based on the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) indicates that the youth unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 31% in 2012 to 14% in October 2017. Overall youth unemployment has fallen from well above the EU average in 2012 to well below the EU average of 16.6% in September 2017 (latest Eurostat data available). Youth unemployment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: My Department provides a number of income supports to lone parents once their entitlement to the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) ceases. These include the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment (JST) payment where the youngest child is aged 7-13 years and the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) payment which may be paid to lone parents where the youngest child is aged 14 or over. The Family...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The table below provide the details which have been requested by the Deputy in respect of pending appeals. Of the 8,898 appeals presently on hand, 4,025 (45.2%) were registered prior to 1 October 2017. Of these, 1,817 (45.1 %) are currently with the Department for review and/or the preparation of the Deciding Officer/Designated Person’s appeal submission and 2,184 (54.3%) are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Data (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The tables below provide the details which have been requested by the Deputy in respect of 2016 and to end of October 2017. Overall, 59.2% of the 23,220 appeals which were finalised in 2016 had a favourable outcome for the appellant, i.e. were either allowed in full or in part, or resolved by way of a revised decision by a Deciding Officer/Designated Person. To date in 2017, 59.4% of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The question of whether a couple is cohabiting as husband and wife or civil partners affects entitlement under the Social Welfare Acts in a number of ways: - A person may be entitled to an increase for a qualified adult for a person who is not a husband, wife or civil partner provided the couple are cohabiting; - A disqualification applies in various schemes where there is cohabitation, for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Data (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The changes made to State Pension (contributory) rate bands in Budget 2012 affected those pensioners who had a yearly average of less than 39 social insurance contributions over the course of their working life. As such, the changes did not preclude any pensioner who would have qualified for a full State Pension (contributory) pre-2012 from qualifying for a full rate after September 2012. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Data (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The rates of the payment for the 2017 scheme were increased from €100 to €125 for children aged 4 to 11 and from €200 to €250 for children aged 12 years...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Expenditure (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The cost implications of reversing changes made to the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) in 2008 are very complex to estimate and would require significant resources and time to prepare. There are three significant barriers to undertaking this costing exercise. Firstly, by reversing the amendments made to the OFP scheme, this would likely result in a substantial cohort of lone parents...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: 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. This measure standardised the State pension age for all at 66 years. This will increase to 67 in 2021 and to 68 in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Bereavement Grant (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: During the economic downturn, my Department protected primary social welfare rates and in recent years, as the economy recovered, the Government has concentrated resources in improving the core rates of payments, particularly for pensioners. Abolishing the bereavement grant provided a significant annual saving and allowed my Department to protect other core social welfare payments such as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Maternity Benefit (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: Maternity Benefit is paid by my Department and is based on payment of PRSI contributions while working. The current entitlement to paid maternity leave is 26 weeks. The table below estimates the cost of increasing the duration for which maternity benefit is paid by one to six weeks. These estimates are based on the cost for a full year and assume that any increase in duration is implemented...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Paternity Benefit (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 which was enacted in July 2016 introduced a new scheme of paternity leave and an associated social welfare payment of paternity benefit from the 1st September 2016. Since the commencement of the scheme on 1 September 2016, 28,969 paternity benefit claims have been awarded to 31 October 2017. The estimated additional cost of extending the duration of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Services Programme (29 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: As the Deputy is aware, the Community Services Programme (CSP) provides financial support to community companies that provide revenue generating services of a socially inclusive nature. Many of these companies are also funded from other sources and generate revenue from the public use of their facilities and services. A budget of just over €46m has been provided for the CSP in 2017....

Social Welfare Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: There are two separate Bills.

Social Welfare Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: I will clarify something for the Deputy. We have two different Bills. We had the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill and this is the Social Welfare Bill. The other Bill is still under consideration. Committee Stage will be taken in the next couple of weeks and that is where the amendments should be considered.

Social Welfare Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: Yes.

Order of Business (28 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: I think we need to explain democracy to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service Administration (28 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Citizens Information Board (CIB), which has statutory responsibility for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) and the Citizens Information Services (CIS) decided, on 15th February 2017, to restructure the governance arrangements of these services. The decision taken reduces the number of local CIS and MABS company boards from ninety three to a sixteen regional boards...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: EU Agreements (28 Nov 2017)

Regina Doherty: On 26 April 2017, the European Commission published its proposals on the next stage of the European Pillar of Social Rights in the form of an ‘Inter-Institutional Proclamation’ to be signed by the Presidents of the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. The signing ceremony was held at the EU Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth in Gothenburg which I attended...