Results 8,961-8,980 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Trying to establish whether people are in full-time education or not would be hard for us. If they are over 18 years of and are still in second level education, it would be hard to find the data and it could take some time. I am not sure where we would obtain it because people themselves have to declare that their children are still in full-time education at the age of 16. I am always...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 50, 60, 74 and 82 together. In response to the ongoing cost-of-living pressures as part of budget 2023 I secured more than €2.1 billion in new measures. This is the largest social protection package in the history of the State. Recognising that the autumn and winter period is the most expensive time of the year for many households, rather than...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputies. For those people who are in receipt of social welfare payments, an increase for a qualified child will be paid up to the age of 22 or until the end of the academic year in which they reach 22. This approach ensures targeted assistance that is directly linked to household income and thereby supports low-income families with older children participating in full-time...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Question Nos. 8, 29, 46 and 89 together as they all relate to the same thing. Child benefit is a universal monthly payment made to families with children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children who are in full-time education until their 18th birthday, whether that is post-primary, post leaving certificate or third level. Payment...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Offices (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Agreement has been reached with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for an additional 289 staff for the Department, of whom approximately 80 will be allocated to community welfare service. These staff will be at all grades and will increase the capacity of the community welfare officers to focus on making decisions on complex applications and meeting with claimants locally, as...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Offices (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: If there are any especially long delays in any area, I ask that the Deputy bring them to my attention and I will be happy address them and see whether there is a problem that we need to sort out. The Deputy was right when she said that people should not wait until the last minute to go to the community welfare officer. If they think there will be a problem, they should put in their...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cost of Living Issues (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: We cannot take any of these things in isolation. We need to take things in their totality. There is a lump sum and there are increases. All of those taken together will clearly protect the most vulnerable households from inflationary pressures over the coming year. We have to take the whole lot together. Deputy Kerrane also raised the issue of child maintenance reviews. We want to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Offices (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I proposed to take Question Nos. 6 and 10 together. The delivery of crucial community welfare services to meet the challenges and needs of citizens across the country is a priority for me and my Department. I want to be absolutely clear that the Department continues to provide access to local community welfare officers in our public offices across the country and will continue to do so....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: When you get all the information in an application straight away, it can be dealt with very fast, which Deputy will appreciate. Where additional information is needed, we know it holds things up a bit. It is taxpayers' money. We just cannot throw it out there. We must have some checks and balances. If they were dragging their heels, you would not see the huge increase in awarded payments...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cost of Living Issues (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. In line with the programme for Government commitment, the Government established a child maintenance review group to examine certain issues on child maintenance in Ireland. The group's terms of reference were to consider and make recommendations on the current treatment of child maintenance payments in my Department; the current provisions...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cost of Living Issues (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The ESRI estimates the combination of budget 2023 and cost-of-living supports will protect most households from inflationary pressures over the coming year, more so than if welfare rates alone had been increased in line with inflation. It concluded that this will substantially cushion real incomes across society The ESRI has said it will make a difference and that what we have done in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Citizens Information Services (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Berry. I was just going to tell him about this but I ran out of time. I met the chairperson and CEO of the CIB to seek further information. Following the meeting the CIB initiated an independent review of its volunteer strategy. This independent review will consult current and past volunteers and other important stakeholders. It is expected that it will be concluded in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Citizens Information Services (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: To be very clear, I want to see volunteers back. The CIB has assured me the contribution of volunteers continues to be highly valued. The role of the volunteer is still seen as central to the delivery of the service. Volunteers have been returning on a phased basis since mid-2022. The CIB advises me that to date 120 volunteers have returned to support the delivery of the citizens...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this. Additional needs payments are intended to assist people with essential once-off exceptional expenditure that a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. In 2022 to the end of September almost 66,000 applications for additional needs payments were processed and awarded. This is an increase of just under 60% on 2021...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: If somebody has an urgent need they will be seen as a matter of urgency and immediately. In some cases, a same-day or next-day payment can be provided. Only a few months ago, the Deputy asked me about the fall-off in these payments. At that stage, she said we were not doing enough to promote the payments and that not enough people knew about. It is sort of the opposite now. The Deputy is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Reports (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Kerrane for raising this issue. In line with the commitment in the programme for Government , the Government established a child maintenance review group to examine certain issues in relation to child maintenance in Ireland. The group's terms of reference were to consider and make recommendations on: the current treatment of child maintenance payments in my Department; the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Reports (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Lone parents will get considerable support as part of the social welfare package that we announced only two weeks ago. For example, a lone parent with two children will get two double payments of the one-parent family payment - that will be €416 - before Christmas. If they are a working family, they will get the €500 working family payment. They will get an extra €280...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Reports (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I also wish One Family well as it celebrates a significant anniversary. I met with the chair of this group, Judge Murphy, and spoke to her. She is formidable. She is a thorough lady. That conversation has been useful to me. I have spoken with my colleagues, the Ministers for Justice and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputies McEntee and O'Gorman, because there...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Citizens Information Services (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Berry for raising this. As Minister, I recognise and value the good work carried out by volunteers. I have been clear to the Citizens Information Board that it is important that the voluntary ethos of the citizens information service should be protected and the skills of its volunteers should be utilised to the maximum extent possible. The Citizens Information Board, CIB,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Oct 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from late September to April, which is currently supporting more than 370,000 households at an estimated cost of €366 million. As part of the overall welfare Budget 2023 package of €2.2 Billion, a number of significant reforms were made to the Fuel Allowance scheme. Up to...