Results 10,081-10,100 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Poverty Data (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The latest CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) results for 2015 show that the consistent poverty rate, for people in households headed by a person whose principal economic status was “unable to work due to illness or a disability”, was 22.4% in 2015. The at-risk-of-poverty rate was 34.8% with the basic deprivation rate at 53.2%. Neither Eurostat nor the OECD...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Services for People with Disabilities (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: When works were being carried out to existing buildings to convert them to Intreo Centres, universal accessibility was incorporated into the design where it was feasible. In a small number of situations it was not feasible to incorporate full universal accessibility as part of the Intreo roll out. My Department deals with any accessibility issues where we become aware of them and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: There is no statutory retirement age in the State, and the age at which employees retire is a matter for the contract of employment between them and their employers. The Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 provides that State pension age will be increased gradually to 68 years. This began in January 2014 with the standardising of State pension age for all at 66 years and the cessation...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: Family Income Supplement (FIS) is an in-work support, which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. FIS is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependants and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment. There are just over 57,000 families with more than 126,000 children in receipt of FIS. The estimated spend on FIS...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Support Services (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Department has established an internal working group and an Inter-Departmental Group of the relevant Government Departments to consider proposals to advance the Programme for Government commitment on delivering a new Working Family Payment. The Department has carried out extensive analysis of its existing supports. The analysis is at an advanced stage and shows the existing in-work...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: I am informed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an appeal was registered on 20thJune 2017 and in accordance with the statutory requirements that office has contacted the person concerned and asked her to set out the complete grounds of her appeal. On receipt of her response the relevant papers will be requested from the Department of Social Protection and the appeal will then be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an appeal was registered on 22ndJune 2017 and in accordance with the statutory requirements, that office contacted the person concerned and asked him to set out the complete grounds of his appeal. The grounds of appeal were received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 03rdJuly 2017 and in accordance with the statutory requirement of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: Carer’s allowance (CA) is in payment to the person concerned since 31 July 2014 in respect of one care recipient.I confirm that my department received an application for Carer’s Allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 16 February 2017 in respect of a second care recipient. The application of the person concerned was disallowed on the grounds that he was not providing...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Data (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The recipient information and national expenditure for Farm Assist requested by the Deputy is detailed in the following tabular statements. The Department does not collate statistics on expenditure on a county by county basis for Farm Assist. Farm Assist Recipients by County Breakdown Dec-12 Dec-13 Dec-14 Dec-15 Dec-16 Jun-17 Carlow 84 75 76 69 58 57 Cavan 404 344 326 300 265 262 Clare...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Benefit (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The main social welfare schemes for unemployed persons are the jobseeker’s allowance and benefit schemes. Both schemes provide significant support to individuals so that they can work up to 3 days a week and still retain access to a reduced jobseeker’s payment. The current days based system can provide significant income supports to jobseekers who are casually employed or...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Appointments to State Boards Data (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: In my reply to question number 2040 of 20 June 2017, I confirmed that no former TDs have been appointed to the Boards of any of the statutory bodies operating under the aegis of my Department in the period from 1stNovember 2014 to date. I also advised that, in line with the Guidelines on Appointments to State Boards (November 2014),appointments to State Boards are advertised on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Levels (13 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1246 and 1247 together. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 18thApril 2017. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these papers have been received from the Department, the case in question will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Data (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The number of customers in receipt of Family Income Supplement (FIS) at the May and June 2017 is as follows: May 2017 June 2017 57,025 57,050The estimated expenditure on FIS for 2017 is €422.5 million. I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Number of Recipients of State Pension Contributory and Non-Contributory at end of June 2017 are represented in the following tabular statement: Scheme Male Female State Pension Contributory 244,493 142,432 State Pension Non-Contributory 36,529 58,215

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Carers' Strategy (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The Government acknowledges the crucial role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for a Partnership Government and the National Carers’ Strategy. My Department provides a range of schemes and payments that support those who are caring in their communities for family members, friends or...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Eligibility (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but to provide assistance to parents towards these costs. The Government has provided...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: Social welfare legislation provides that, for means testing purposes, rental income received by a claimant and his or her spouse/partner where it derived from a property other than the family home is not assessed. However, the yearly value of such a second property is assessed on a notional basis based on the market value of the property less any outstanding mortgage. This reflects the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Brexit Issues (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 418 and 419 together. Following on from publication of the document setting out the Government's approach to the Brexit negotiations, work is underway across departments to prepare adaptive Sectoral Brexit Response Plans to mitigate emerging sectoral challenges. These plans will build on ongoing cross-Government research, analysis and consultations with...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Benefit Applications (12 Jul 2017)

Regina Doherty: I confirm that my department received an application for carer’s benefit (CARB) from the person concerned on 24 May 2017. The application is currently being processed and once completed, the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.