Results 981-1,000 of 15,365 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: It is incredibly confusing for people when means tests are assessed in different ways for different schemes and services. This is the case even within my Department. There are often valid reasons for this, however. Schemes are being developed to cater for people in different circumstances and who are experiencing different and difficult contingencies. That said, the social protection...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disabilities Assessments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I do not have a specific timeline yet but we are working on it. There are a number of different reports on the cost of disability, which have widely varying figures. One of the first things I am trying to do is address and come up with a figure that actually reflects the reality of it. When we have a figure we can work on, we will look at a timeline. From next week, applications for...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for her question and for raising this issue. As she will be aware, the Social Welfare and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024 provided for changes to the social welfare means test to exclude child maintenance payments from assessment in all means-tested payments that my Department provides. This was one of the recommendations of the report of the child...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disabilities Assessments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government recognises the additional costs associated with having a disability and is committed to improving outcomes for disabled people. In the programme for Government, we are committed to introducing a permanent annual cost of disability support payment. These commitments will build on progress made in recent years where we have taken steps to recognise the additional costs...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I would certainly be happy to consider that. There would be logistics issues. Some schools feed hundreds of students every day with a range of meal options. It could work, from a nutritional point of view as well, in that locally supplied food is generally healthier in this context. It is something we might even ask the nutrition review to consider as well. Anything we can do to help in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I join the Deputy in wishing a happy 50th to Balbriggan meals on wheels; it is welcome to the club. I agree with the Deputy. We will certainly have a look at it. The first thing to do is review the nutritional standards. We will complete the roll-out of the school meals programme into every remaining primary school in September. That is a good time to stand back, take stock and see how...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Tusla has a duty under section 45 of the Child Care Act 1991 to make a decision whether each person leaving care has a need for assistance and then to provide services in accordance with the legislation, subject to the resources. On reaching the age of 18, a young person is deemed to have left State care. Young people who have a care history with Tusla are entitled to an aftercare service...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The staff in my Department are acutely aware of the challenges faced by young people who leave care and are available to them to assist with the provision of social protection income and employment supports. The Department's staff engage with a range of stakeholders and advocacy groups working with vulnerable people. For instance in Dublin, staff engage with the Dublin Regional Homeless...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy for her question and correspondence on this issue. On the nutritional value of school meals, I am very aware of the concerns that have been expressed. It is important to note that each week, parents are provided with a menu of food options and it is the parents who select the food to be served to their children in that week. It is important, in my view, that parents...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The introduction of the Public Services Card since 2012 has proven to be an important innovation both in enabling access to public services across a wide range of Government bodies and protecting against the use of fraudulent identities to access those services. For example, everyday hundreds of thousands of people use the PSC to access free travel or to collect their social welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Wage Subsidy Scheme is a key employment support for people with disabilities. By providing a subsidy to reduce the ongoing cost of employing a person with a disability, the scheme aims to address any perceived disadvantages of hiring a person with a disability. It encourages employers to offer substantial and sustainable employment to people with disabilities through a subsidy. As of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Domiciliary Care Allowance is a non-means-tested payment of €360 per month to a parent or guardian for a child aged up to 16 who has a severe disability. The child must require care and attention substantially over and above that required by other children their age. Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance is not based on the disability or diagnosis, but rather on the impact of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am very pleased to report that the new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit was introduced a month ago (31st March). This is a payment that will help people who lose a job to adjust to the income shock that this often entails. Instead of paying a single flat rate to all jobseekers as was the case up to this, Pay-Related Benefit means that the rate of income support is directly linked to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children not only to address the risk of food poverty among vulnerable children but to support all children in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. Importantly, as the meals are provided to all children in a school children from poorer backgrounds are not stigmatised by being singled...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is keenly aware of child poverty issues and is also conscious of the impact of cost-of-living increases in 2023 and 2024. The Government's concern to address these issues are reflected both in the creation of a child poverty unit in the Department of An Taoiseach and in the development of recent Budget packages. The budget packages, which were the largest in the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance is my Department's primary disability related social assistance scheme. Disability Allowance is a means-tested payment for people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66. In order to be eligible, the disability must be expected to last for at least one year. The allowance is also subject to a means test, a medical assessment and a habitual residency...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: There is a already a nutritional standard in place for the School Meals Programme since. A specific standard was set for School Meals under the Nutritional Standards for School Meals and Nutritional Standards for Hot School Meals. A technical Nutrition Sub Group comprised of Dietitians from the following organisations was involved in developing these standards: The Irish Nutrition and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I was very pleased to launch the new Jobseekers Pay-Related benefit payment at the beginning of this month and I wish to compliment the Department's staff in their development and implementation of this new scheme on time and within budget. It is a new scheme that will help people who lose their employment to cope with the sudden income-shock that always accompanies such a loss, and in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government recognises the additional costs associated with having a disability and is committed to improving outcomes for disabled people. That is why in the last three Budgets we brought forward an extensive range of cost of living measures to support people with disabilities and their families, including lump sum payments, bonus payments and increases to the maximum personal rate of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Wage Subsidy Scheme is a key disability employment support. It aims to encourage employers to offer substantial and sustainable employment to people with disabilities through a subsidy. Last year, my Department published a review of the Wage Subsidy Scheme.In April 2024, based on the findings in the review, my Department reduced the minimum required hours for the scheme from 21 hours...