Results 881-900 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I introduced legislation (under the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pension Act 2006) whereby all persons in receipt of State Pension (Transition) would transfer automatically to the State Pension (Contributory) on attaining age 66. State Pension (Transition) is paid on a Thursday and State Pension (Contributory) is paid on Friday. The change was implemented from January 2007, for customers...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provides assistance to people who are overindebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. In 2006, €16.4 million was provided to fund the service and in 2007 I have further increased the annual allocation to €17.67 million to assist the MABS in dealing with its workload. In 2006, MABS provided services to some 12,600 new...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The Dublin/Mid-Leinster Area of the HSE has advised that the person concerned is an asylum seeker in receipt of a direct provision allowance of €19.10 granted to her when she resided at accommodation provided previously through the Reception and...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: Illness Benefit is a payment for people under 66 years who cannot work due to illness and who satisfy the relevant PRSI conditions. A person who continues to work beyond age 66 may qualify for the State Pension (contributory), based on their social insurance record and this payment is not affected if the person subsequently becomes ill and is unable to work. Alternatively, a person who does...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the homemaker's scheme which was introduced in and took effect from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes. However, the scheme will...

Written Answers — Community Development: Community Development (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: My Department administers a scheme of grants for the development and promotion of information and welfare rights. Under the scheme grants are awarded to assist organisations in the provision of information on social services and in particular social welfare services. Organisations wishing to be considered for funding under this scheme should apply to my Department for that purpose.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The person concerned was awarded a reduced rate of state pension (non-contributory) and a living alone allowance from 20/10/06. She appealed to the Social Welfare Appeals Office against the decision not to award the pension and allowance from an earlier date and in accordance with the statutory requirements, the relevant papers and comments from my Department were sought. These have now been...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The setting of waste management charges and the introduction of waivers in respect of waste charges is, as stated by my colleague the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, a matter for each local authority. The introduction of a national social welfare scheme to address the issue would be complex given the wide range of charging regimes and cost structures that exist in...

Written Answers — EU Regulations: EU Regulations (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The advice of the Office of the Attorney General is that the judgement of the Supreme Court in this case, given on Thursday last, 29th March 2007, relates solely to the Animal Remedies Act, 1993. The issue of whether the judgement has implications for other legislation (including social welfare and occupational pensions legislation) is under review by the Attorney-General's Office. However,...

Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 354 to 356, inclusive, together. The one-parent family payment is an income support scheme for separated, unmarried and widowed persons and also for prisoners' spouses who are bringing up a child or children without the support of a partner. Expenditure on the one-parent family payment scheme was €751.1 million in 2005 and €834.3 million in 2006. At the...

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The Deputy should get his monument. He would make a good one.

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (4 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The five statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, the Citizens Information Board (formerly Comhairle), the Family Support Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of my Department. The following are the number of appointments, by gender, to each board since 2002. ...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (4 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The five statutory agencies operating under the aegis of my Department are the Pensions Board, the Combat Poverty Agency, the Citizens Information Board (formerly Comhairle), the Family Support Agency and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of my Department. On 30th March 2007 I appointed Ms. Patricia Walshe and Ms. Laurie Cearr as members of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I have recently announced the implementation of the all Ireland free travel scheme which commenced on 2 April and enables pensioners resident here and in Northern Ireland to travel free of charge on all eligible transport services on the island. Implementation of a single travel pass for all-Ireland free travel, acceptable in both jurisdictions, will require the completion of the Integrated...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (4 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: A special pension for the self-employed was introduced in 1999 to enable people who were over age 56 at the time of the introduction of PRSI for the self-employed in 1988, and who could not therefore meet the standard qualifying conditions, to receive a contributory pension. To qualify, a person must have been age 56 or over on 6 April 1988, started paying social insurance contributions as a...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (4 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the homemaker's scheme which was introduced in, and took effect from, 1994. Government policy in that, within the existing contributory and non-contributory pension system, as many people as possible qualify for payments in their own right. In this regard measures have been taken...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (3 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare Division of the Health Service Executive. The objective of rent supplement is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of an eligible person living in private rented accommodation who is unable to provide for his or her...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (3 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 436 and 437 together. Approximately 76 per cent of workers pay PRSI Class A at the rate of 4 per cent. A further 11 per cent of workers pay social insurance contributions at the Class S rate. These contributions which are subject to various thresholds, allowances and ceilings, accrue entitlement to a range of benefits and pensions under various social...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (3 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: In February 2006 as part of its reform of the Health Sector, the Government decided that the administration of the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, as well as certain other functions, will be transferred to my Department. The transfer of functions will not change the role of the CWOs and SCWOs. They will remain community based and, in addition to providing financial supports to...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (3 Apr 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I understand the Deputy is referring to staff absent on sick leave, suspension and study leave for the month of March 2007 and in receipt of full salary. There were 14 staff absent on sick leave in my department at full salary for this period at a total cost of €47,014.96, including employers PRSI. There were no staff absent on suspension on full pay for the month of March 2007. There were...