Results 9,541-9,560 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I thank not only the Deputies present here tonight but all the Deputies who have contributed to the debate over the past number of months. I welcome their feedback. I do not necessarily agree with all of it but I welcome it. I challenge Deputy Martin Kenny to call any woman in her 60s "elderly" to her face. I guarantee him that none would thank him for it.

Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I will contain my remarks to what is in the Bill although I recognise that Sinn Féin Deputies, and only Sinn Féin Deputies, have repeatedly raised their issues with JobPath, not only in this session but in previous sessions. I suggested a number of weeks ago to their spokesperson who apparently has a large dossier of complaints that he might give them to me. I am still waiting on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Payments (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment, made to a person who is providing full-time care and attention to a person who has a disability such that they require that level of care. The department periodically reviews claims in payment to ensure that there is continued entitlement. CA is in payment to the person concerned since 5 November 2009 and a review of means...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 13thJune 2017. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. These papers have been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Labour Activation Programmes (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The customer was referred to the Job Club service on 12thJune 2017 and attended in September 2017. The customer was also referred to the JobPath service on 17thJune 2017, and agreed a personal progression plan with the JobPath provider on 6thJuly 2017. Having been referred to JobPath which provides an intensive 12 month programme of support for the Long Term Unemployed the customer’s...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Services Programme (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Community Services Programme (CSP) provides financial support to community companies that provide revenue generating services of a social inclusion nature. Many of these companies are also funded from other sources and generate revenue from the public use of their facilities and services.The CSP provides a contribution to the wage costs of the companies on the basis that the services are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 217 and 218 together. To ensure that people’s identity is verified to a substantial level of assurance, my Department has implemented an identity registration process called SAFE. That process involves the capture of an individual’s photograph and signature and the verification of identity data. Items of the identity dataset that are verified...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (4 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 219 and 220 together. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to schools and organisations at a total cost of some €47.5 million in 2017. As part of Budget 2017, the funding for the scheme was substantially increased this year by an additional €5.5 million which will benefit over 50,000 additional children...

Order of Business (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I confirm that, as stated some weeks ago when the legislative programme for this period was launched by the Chief Whip, the Government will publish the Bill before Christmas. It is being drafted currently. It will effectively ban zero hour contracts and bring in banded contract hours. As soon as it is drafted it will be published and will go to pre-legislative scrutiny.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to around 619,880 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The tapered PRSI credit was introduced in January 2016 for PRSI class A and Class H employees earning between €352.01 and €424.00 per week. The maximum weekly credit of €12 applies at gross earnings of €352.01. As earnings increase, the €12 is reduced by one-sixth of weekly earnings in excess of €352.01. At earnings of €424.01, the credit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: Last December, an 85% Christmas Bonus was paid to some 1.2 million long-term social welfare recipients, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and the long-term unemployed, in recognition of their financial dependence on their social welfare payments for all or most of their income. The cost of a 100% or 85% Bonus is estimated at approximately €260 million and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Payments (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: To qualify for Jobseeker's Allowance, a person must, in general, be both available for and genuinely seeking full time work. I will ask my officials to contact the Deputy to establish if there are specific enquires that she wishes to have clarified in relation to any particular case. I trust that this clarified the matter for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Eligibility (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 572 and 573 together. The “Make Work Pay” initiative was introduced on the 6 April 2017. This initiative extends a free travel entitlement for a period of five years where people with a long term disability payment move off the payment to get a job. The following schemes are considered as long term disability payments and any person who moves...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Data (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The liability to maintain family provisions, contained in sections 345 & 346 (1) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 are separate to, and do not negate or supersede parents’ obligations under Family Law. Where a lone parent is in receipt of One Parent Family Payment (OFP), the legislation enables the assessment of the liability of the other parent to pay a financial...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: To ensure that the individual can maximise their entitlement to a State pension (contributory), all contributions, paid or credited, over their working life from when they first enter insurable employment until pension age are taken into account when assessing their entitlement and the level of that entitlement. The homemaker's scheme makes qualification for a higher rate of State pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I can confirm the Government will publish and commence the implementation of a pensions reform plan in the coming months. Perhaps the most fundamental reform contained within the plan will be a confirmation of the Government’s intention to develop a new automatic enrolment supplementary retirement savings systemfor employees without pensions coverage. The rate of supplementary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The homemaker’s scheme, which was introduced in 1994 and provides for periods since then, makes qualification easier for those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties. It does this by allowing gaps of up to 20 years spent caring for children under 12 years of age, or incapacitated people, to be disregarded when a person’s social insurance record is being averaged...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 578 and 579 together. Each year more people are living to pension age and living longer in retirement. As a result of this demographic change, the number of State pension recipients is increasing year on year. This has significant implications for the future costs of State pension provision, and demographic change alone is expected to increase spending on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (3 Oct 2017)

Regina Doherty: The home-makers scheme makes qualification for a higher rate of State pension (contributory) easier for those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties. The scheme, which was introduced in and took effect for periods from 1994, allows up to 20 years spent caring for children under 12 years of age (or caring for incapacitated people over that age) to be disregarded when a...