Results 9,741-9,760 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Programme for Government Initiatives (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: My Department’s approach to developing the working family payment is being guided by two principles. First, that it should ensure that work pays, and second, and equally important, that it should have a positive effect on reducing child poverty. To advance the commitment contained in the Programme for Partnership Government, my Department established an internal working group and an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service Reports (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: In February 2017, the Board of Citizens Information Board decided to restructure its governance arrangements to a regional model comprising sixteen companies, 8 CIS and 8 MABS companies. The aim of the change is to improve the effectiveness of the control environment, financial management, and governance of CIS and MABS service networks and service delivery standards and consistency. I know...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (Better Outcomes Brighter Futures) - BOBF - is the first overarching national policy framework for children and young people (aged 0-24 years), led by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The purpose of this framework is to coordinate policy across Government to achieve better outcomes for children. Under the BOBF...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Data (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: As the Deputy will be aware, JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. The service is delivered by two companies, Seetec and Turas Nua. The service commenced operations in mid-2015, and reached full State-wide delivery of the service in July...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 54 and 61 together. In 2005, the Government agreed a standard for establishing and verifying an individual’s identity for the purposes of accessing public services. This standard is known as the Standard Authentication Framework Environment – or “SAFE”. The SAFE standard has four levels: Safe 0= No assurance of identity....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Enterprise Sector (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Community Services Programme (CSP) provides financial support to community companies that provide revenue generating services of a socially inclusive nature. Many of these companies are also funded from other sources and generate revenue from the public use of their facilities and services. In May 2017, my Department announced a call for proposals under strand 3 of CSP, which focuses on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: Ireland’s Public Employment Service (PES) is managed by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) and delivered directly by its own Intreo service as well as by contracted private companies, such as JobPath, Local Employment Service (LES) and Job Club providers. With JobPath the Department has procured additional resources to enable it to provide a high...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: As the deputy will be aware, the State’s Public Employment Service is managed by my Department and delivered directly by its own Intreo service as well as by contracted private companies, such as JobPath, Local Employment Service and Job Club providers. The Department has contracts in place with in excess of 60 companies for the provision of these services. This includes two...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Data (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: The State pension contributory is one of a number of pensions the State pays to people over 66. The rate of payment to a person is related to the number of contributions made over the years into the Social Insurance Fund by the person. Entitlement levels are calculated by means of a ‘yearly average’ calculation, where the total contributions paid or credited are divided by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Job Creation (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of employment and unemployment statistics for the State. Reflecting the impact of Government policy, and the overall improvement in the labour market, the unemployment rate has fallen rapidly since it peaked at 15.1% in Q1 2012. The most recent figure is 6.8% in Q1 2017, and unemployment has fallen by more than half in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Department is currently experiencing delays in the processing of Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) claims. We are extremely sorry for any worry or concern this may cause to parents/guardians of children with additional care needs. At present, it is taking 17 weeks on average to finalise an application. While this represents an improvement of some 3 weeks compared to the time taken in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: The State pension contributory is one of a number of pensions the State pays to people over 66. The rate of payment to a person is related to the number of contributions made over the years into the Social Insurance Fund by the person. Entitlement levels are calculated by means of a ‘yearly average’ calculation, where the total contributions paid or credited are divided by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: I have previously highlighted that pensions reform will be a priority of my Department and can confirm my intention to publish and commence the implementation of a pensions reform plan before the end of this year. Two of the most significant measures in the plan will be a road map for the reform of the State pension through the introduction of a “Total Contributions Approach”...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card Data (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: Section 263 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended) provides for the data items that can be inscribed on the face or encoded on the chip of the Public Services Card. That data is part of the Public Service Identity (PSI) dataset as set out in section 262 of the Act. The PSI data set is stored in enterprise class databases maintained in my Department’s secure...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 64 together. Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme currently supporting 38,600 recipients at a cost of €253 million in 2017. I can assure the deputies every effort is made by my Department so that rent supplement tenants can remain in their homes. In view of the on-going rental market...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: Given the innovative nature of the project and the fact that there weren’t any ready references for comparison purposes in the early 2000s, it was not possible in the early stages of the project to determine precise costs and staffing requirements, and thereby develop a full cost benefit analysis. Accordingly, the Department developed the project in phases and prepared costs and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: There are no plans to establish a “cost of disability” payment within the social protection system. People with disabilities are not a homogeneous group, and, as such, have widely differing needs with the result that any additional costs of disability would not therefore arise to the same extent in all cases. Some costs associated with disability are already addressed across...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 73 together. A Public Services Card may be issued to an individual who has successfully authenticated their identity to SAFE Level 2, i.e., to a substantial level of assurance. I have been informed by my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform that “it is not mandatory for residents in Ireland to be SAFE 2 registered, though...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Administration (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: My Department provides a range of activation supports for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include JobPath and employment programmes such as Community Employment (CE) schemes and Tús. Both CE and Tús provide part-time temporary work in local communities, as a stepping-stone back to employment, for people in receipt of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Homemakers Scheme (20 Sep 2017)

Regina Doherty: Entitlement levels to the State Pension (contributory) are calculated by means of a ‘yearly average’ calculation, where the total contributions paid or credited are divided by the number of years of the working life. Payment rates are banded. For example, someone with a yearly average of 48 contributions will qualify for a full pension, whereas someone with a yearly average of...