Results 881-900 of 14,252 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 581 and 582 together. The purpose of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS) is to prevent hardship by providing financial support to people whose homes are damaged from flooding and/or severe weather events and who are not able to meet costs for essential needs, household items and in some instances structural repairs. The scheme is administered by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 583 and 609 together. The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, administered by my department through the local Community Welfare Service, was activated on the 23rd January 2025 to assist householders across the country affected by Storm Éowyn. The purpose of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is to provide financial support to people whose homes are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Citizens Information Board (CIB) funds and supports eight independent regional Citizen Information Service (CIS) companies, which in turn operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres. It is important to note that each CIS is a limited company governed by a voluntary Board of Directors which make decisions independently on the delivery of services in their regions. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Sector Staff (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a wide range of employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, and their employers. Work and Access is a set of supports to help remove or reduces barriers in the workplace for people with a disability. It is available to the private, community, not-for-profit, and voluntary sectors and the self-employed. This scheme is funded by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Consultations (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department tends to rely on the Attorney General's Office, as the Government's legal adviser, on matters of law. However in 2023, the Department engaged Mason Hayes and Curran for provision of employment legal advice at a cost of €3,893.44. In 2024 the Department engaged the same firm for training on employment law. This cost the Department €1,317.33. No external legal...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. In order to qualify, applicants must show that they are habitually resident in the State, that their means are less than...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The criteria for medical eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) are that a child aged under 16 has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age without their disability and the child must be likely to require this level of care for at least 12 consecutive...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 589 and 590 together. The person concerned had been in receipt of Carer's Allowance (CA) from 1999. Following a review of their continuing entitlement to CA in 2016, it was established that there was no entitlement from 17th April 2008 to 29th June 2016 as the care recipient was in employment, had married and had moved away from the family home. ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: A breakdown of procurement contracts awarded by my Department is published on the Gov.ie website at gov.ie - Procurement Contracts Awarded . The Department does not compile the information in the format sought by the Deputy. An annual statement of contract modifications is published as part of the Department’s annual appropriation accounts and are available for inspection on the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Procurements are undertaken in accordance with the Public Spending Code and in accordance with the EU Directives. All areas of expenditure are monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure that value for money is being achieved. All contract modifications undergo a rigorous assessment of need, are reviewed by the Department’s Internal Audit Unit and must receive the approval of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: There are, currently, no reciprocal arrangements in place to minimise impacts on social security entitlements of redress payments made under the Northern Ireland’s Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry to persons resident in Republic of Ireland and similarly in respect of redress payments made under comparable schemes in the Republic of Ireland to persons resident in Northern Ireland....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the law as currently enacted, entitlement to a Widows, Widowers or Surviving Civil Partner’s Contributory pension is only available to a surviving partner who was party to a marriage or civil partnership. As the Deputy is aware, on 22nd January 2024, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the entitlement of an unmarried cohabitant to a Widows, Widowers or Surviving...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 595 and 596 together. Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly allowance payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability that requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the level of care and attention normally required by a child of the same age, and where the level of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance is a payment for people who are aged between 16 and 66 with an injury, disease or disability that has continued, or may be expected to continue, for at least one year and, as a result of this disability, the person is substantially restricted in undertaking work that would otherwise be suitable. The allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Department cannot collate the information concerned in the format outlined by the Deputy. The Department collates statistics on the overall numbers of applications received / awarded / disallowed in a particular period and calculates average processing times for each scheme. While it is possible to track the journey of an individual application on the Department’s systems, it...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, administered by my department through the local Community Welfare Service, was activated on the 23rd January 2025 to assist householders across the country affected by Storm Éowyn. The purpose of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme is to provide financial support to people whose homes are damaged and who are not able to meet costs for essential...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Poverty (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The criteria for Fuel Allowance are in place to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the Fuel Allowance payment, a person aged under 66 must satisfy all the qualifying criteria including being in receipt of a qualifying payment, satisfy a means test and the household composition criteria. This ensures that the Fuel...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Ministerial Responsibilities (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: In my first week as Minister, I received a comprehensive Ministerial brief on the many areas for which I am responsible in the Department of Social Protection. A copy of this document is available to view on my Department's website at www.gov.ie/en/publication/cbb45e-ministers-brief/. A Minister of State has not been appointed to the Department of Social Protection.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of training support grants paid by the Department in 2024 was 5,214. The number of training support grants paid by the Department for each county in 2024 are shown in the following table. Carlow 57 Cavan 14 Clare 296 Cork 240 Donegal 409 Dublin ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (25 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The number of recipients of jobseeker's payments in January 2025, broken down by payment type and county, are shown in the following table. Jobseeker's Allowance Jobseeker's Benefit Short-Time Work Support Jobseeker's Benefit (Self Employed) Benefit Payment for 65 Year Olds Jobseeker's Transition Payment Carlow ...