Results 921-940 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Personal Public Service Numbers (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: An application for a Personal Public Service Number from the person concerned has not yet been received by my Department. Information on the requirements to apply for a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) is available on . Over 18s, residing in Ireland must complete an online application, after which they will be called for an in-person interview at one of my department' offices. They...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Budget 2025 (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) is a weekly payment of €2.50 for people on certain social welfare payments who are also getting both the Living Alone Increase and the Fuel Allowance. The primary objective of the TSA is to allow the most vulnerable people at risk of isolation, including the elderly and those with disabilities, access to personal alarms or phones for security....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Farm Assist is a statutory means-tested income State support specifically for farmers on low incomes. Farm accounts certified by an accountant are not a requirement to determine entitlement, however they may be presented by the customer if they have them already prepared. Relevant documentation, including farming income and expenditure details, including any payments from the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that all applications and reviews are processed as quickly as possible. The average number of weeks to award a Carer’s Allowance application in August 2024 was 6 weeks, compared to an average of 14 weeks in 2019. Where any scheme area experiences delays, all possible steps are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Jobseeker's Allowance is a means tested payment and to qualify for a payment a person must satisfy certain conditions as to means. A means assessment includes all of a person's household income, any savings, shares, investments or property apart from a person's home. A means test will also include any income that a person's spouse, civil partner or cohabitant has. My Department adds the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I have grown the Hot School Meals Programme from a small pilot project to a nationwide programme now approved in 2,200 primary schools nationwide. In April 2024, my Department contacted the remaining 1,000 primary schools, including the school referred to by the Deputy, who have not yet joined the Hot School Meals scheme, asking them if they wished to submit an expression of interest in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Artificial Intelligence (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is currently developing guidance for staff on the use of artificial intelligence. These guidelines will incorporate the principles highlighted in the "Interim Guidelines and Principles for the use of AI" published earlier this year by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. Any updates in guidance for the public sector will be incorporated into the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Artificial Intelligence (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Department does not use artificial intelligence software to assist in the response to parliamentary questions or in responses to any correspondence from outside the organisation.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned was awarded Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) on 16/10/2023. Their claim was closed on 28/05/2024 as a result of the person failing to collect their JA payments from the post office on three consecutive weeks. Following Dáil Question No. 912, a holiday form was issued by the Maynooth Social Welfare Branch Office to the person concerned on 01/08/2024 to assess any...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: According to recent results from Census 2022, there are almost 1,109,557 people or 22% of the population living with a disability in Ireland. Furthermore, it shows that there is a large employment gap between disabled people and those without a disability. Census 2022 data show that 56% of the total population was working, but only 37% of people with a long-lasting health condition were...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability, both social insurance and means tested schemes. Invalidity Pension, a social insurance scheme, is a weekly payment to people who cannot work because of a long-term illness or disability who are covered by PRSI contributions. In order to qualify, the person must have been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Invalidity Pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and for no other reason and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. My Department received an application for IP from the person concerned on 1 March 2024. Based on the information supplied, it was refused on the grounds that the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Widow's Pension (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 443, 444 and 458 together. 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 On 22nd January, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the entitlement of an unmarried cohabitant to a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The objective of the Wage Subsidy Scheme is to encourage employers to employ people with disabilities, who they may not otherwise consider due to a potential productivity loss. The scheme provides financial incentives to employers to hire new staff with a disability for between 15 and 39 hours per week under a contract of employment. The employee must be subject to and have the same...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 10 January 2017. An application for State Pension (contributory) was received on 21 January 2019. To qualify for state pension (contributory), a total of 520 paid reckonable contributions are required which is equivalent to 10 years contributions. The person concerned was advised on 25 March 2019 that they did not qualify for State Pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My department is committed to offering a high-quality service to people with disabilities and Access Officers (appointed in my Department in compliance with section 26(2) of the Disability Act) play an important role in this regard. To ensure the most effective service, all customer access requests are made via a centralised mailbox and most are dealt with entirely by a central Access...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (18 Sep 2024)

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, at an estimated cost of €382 million in 2024. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. Only one allowance is paid per household. Fuel Allowance operates as part of an overall system of social protection...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children up to the age of 16 years. Currently, the payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 19th birthday where they are in full-time education or have a disability. The extension of Child Benefit to 18 year olds was one of my key priorities in Budget 2024 and I am very pleased that we were able to bring that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Maternity Benefit is a payment made for up to 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women who are on maternity leave from work and who satisfy certain conditions including social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions on their own insurance record. The main provisions relating to Maternity Benefit are in the Maternity Protection Acts, 1994 and 2004, Chapter 9 of Part II of Social Welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (18 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned is currently in receipt of Illness Benefit (IB) from my Department. IB is a short-term scheme for people who cannot work due to illness and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. It is paid for a maximum of 2 years or 624 payable days. Invalidity Pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of...