Results 10,061-10,080 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (21 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In March 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Department closed its offices in accordance with the prevailing public health restrictions.  This meant in-person Public Services Card (PSC) appointments, including PSC renewal appointments, had to be deferred.  As a result, automatic invitations to those whose PSC was due to expire were suspended, to ensure customers...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: 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. I confirm that an application for CA was received from the person concerned on 5 April 2022. The person concerned was...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (21 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: There are 329 Community Welfare Officers (CWO) in my Department. The number of CWOs by county is set out in table 1 below.  Details of the number of CWOs who retired in the past three years is not readily available.  The number of CWO retirements from January to June 2022 is included in table 2 below. Table 1:  Number of CWOs by county County No. of CWOs...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Under the supplementary welfare allowance  scheme, my Department can make additional needs payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income.  Payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme, taking into account the requirements of the legislation, and all the relevant circumstances of the case in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (21 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly payment in respect of a child, aged under 16 with a severe disability who requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the care and attention usually required by a child of the same age. An application for DCA was received from the person concerned on 18 January 2022. Their application was disallowed...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Gender Balance (21 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department had the whole-time equivalent of 350 serving Social Welfare Inspectors working across several units at the end of May 2022.  The gender breakdown is 212 females and 147 males. In addition there are 14 Gardaí seconded to the Department’s Special Investigation Unit who are also appointed as Social Welfare Inspectors in line with the 2005 Social Welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Transport (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department's Ministers and civilian drivers’ expenses in 2021 are outlined in the table below. Department of Social Protection 2021 Expenses Minister €7,919.89 Civilian Drivers €2,359.22

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Education Schemes (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) provides income support for jobseekers and others in receipt of certain social welfare payments who pursue courses of education at second or third level. The provision for the scheme for 2022 is €105.4 million. A person wishing to pursue a course of study under the BTEA scheme must satisfy the conditions of the scheme, including being in receipt...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022 is a matter for the Department of Children, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Youth. It provides for unpaid leave in respect of medical care for sick children. There is no provision in the Bill for Illness Benefit or any other income support to be payable, and there have been no proposals for such an approach. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I can confirm that the Scope Unit of my Department has not engaged the services of the firm referred to by the Deputy and that no payments have been made to that firm in the years 2020 and 2021 or to date in 2022 in respect of Scope's work.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The original Free Travel card issued in this case also allowed the spouse of the person concerned to free travel when accompanying the person concerned. When a replacement card was being ordered in August 2021, it was established from the person concerned that the appropriate civil status in this case is 'separated'. The appropriate entitlement for a person who is separated is personal Free...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The organisation referred to the Deputy was funded by my Department under the former Ability Programme. The Ability Programme, introduced in June 2018, was a three-year pre-activation programme for young people with disabilities. The funding for the programme amounted to approximately €16 million and was provided jointly under the European Union’s ESF 2014-2020 Programme for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 403 and 404 together. Disablement Benefit is one of the benefits payable under the Occupational Injuries scheme to an insured person who suffers a loss of physical or mental faculty as a result of an occupational accident or prescribed occupational disease, on or after 1 May 1967. In order to qualify for Disablement Benefit, the person must be in employment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In line with the general policy across the Civil Service, my Department aims to promote respect, dignity, safety, and equality in the workplace. This policy applies equally to persons working in my Department and members of the public who need to attend at offices of the Department. My Department is clear that that all forms of bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment are unacceptable....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Dignity at Work policy is the anti-bullying, harassment and sexual harassment policy for the Irish Civil Service. This policy came into effect on 20th February 2015. The Dignity At Work policy is available to all employees on the Department’s intranet site, Stór and is publicly available on the gov.ie website. My Department is committed to creating a working environment...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Transport (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Department of Rural and Community Development was established in July 2017. The details of the car and driver expenses in my Department that were claimed by Ministers in 2021 is set out in the table below: Expense Claimant Total Annual Value Minister of State €11,110.82 Minister of State's Driver €1,184.61 ...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Policies (16 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 563 and 564 together. The Civil Service is committed to protecting the dignity and respect of staff across all organisations. My Department operates under the Dignity at Work policy which is the centralised Anti-Bullying, Harassment and Sexual Harassment Policy for all of the Irish civil service. The policy aims to promote respect, dignity, safety and equality...

Seanad: Cost of Living: Motion (15 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Fine Gael Senators for tabling this Private Members' motion. I am responding to the motion on behalf of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and the Government. The Government supports the motion on the basis that we agree with its call for a budget to help people, particularly those on the lowest incomes and the squeezed middle, deal with the cost of living. We agree that...

Seanad: Cost of Living: Motion (15 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Many commentators predicted a tsunami of redundancies and business failures but that has not happened. Instead, we have more than two and a half million people at work - the highest level of employment in the history of the State. At the same time, the number of people on the live register is now at its lowest level for many years. There are a significant number of job opportunities across...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I again extend my sympathies to Ms Tracy McGinnis on the loss of her dear son, Brendan, and to his brother, Declan. This matter came to my attention at the weekend. I apologised on behalf of the Department and I accept we need to look at the matter. I am committed to doing that. I will put some context to how the system works. The key role...