Results 1,021-1,040 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: Due to staff action currently being taken, I regret that I am unable to provide the information sought by the Deputy.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: Due to staff action currently being taken, I regret that I am unable to provide the information sought by the Deputy.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: Due to staff action currently being taken, I regret that I am unable to provide the information sought by the Deputy.
- Social Welfare Benefits. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: I presume the Deputy is referring to the back to work allowance scheme for employees which is one of two strands in the Department's back to work programme. The scheme was designed to assist the long-term unemployed, lone parents, people with disabilities and other social welfare recipients to return to work. The allowance is paid on a reducing scale over a three year period. Participants...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: I do not accept that the scheme has anything to do with young people. It was designed to enable those who were becoming long-term unemployed to get back into the work force. Our aim with young people is to ensure they do not become long-term unemployed in the first instance.
- Social Welfare Benefits. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: Our priority for them is to get them into training, activation, education or work placement programmes. I suggest that the scheme under discussion is not the appropriate one for them. A scheme that has been introduced as part of our efforts to get people back into work - the back to work enterprise allowance - might be the most appropriate one for them. It enables young and old people who...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: A number of new initiatives have been introduced. The useful back to work enterprise scheme encourages innovative people who have ideas to set up their own enterprises. The number of people on the back to education scheme, which is the only guaranteed way of ensuring one does not become long-term unemployed, has increased significantly, to over 20,800, by comparison with last year and the...
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 72, 81, 83 and 122 together. The initial purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was to provide short-term support to people who have difficulty meeting their mortgage repayments due to changes in their employment circumstances and whose means are inadequate to meet their basic day-to-day needs. The goal of the scheme, within the overall social...
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: Not all of them.
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: Two distinct groups are considering the matter at present.
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: The first group is the mortgage interest supplement review group, which is based in the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Its report, which will be finalised over the next couple of weeks and is to be published in April, will give us specific guidelines on our own scheme. The second group, which is examining the wider issue of home ownership and protection of homes, etc, is led by...
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: That is a separate group. The Departments in question are working on the two groups. We should not ignore the fact that a moratorium of 12 months has been established which covers all institutions covered by the Financial Regulator, including the sub-prime lenders. This means that when someone gets into difficulty in paying their mortgage, as long as they engage with the bank, no action...
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: It is 12 months from the first time they went into arrears. As long as they are engaging-----
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: The moratorium was only for six months until last week.
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: We must put this in perspective.
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: People who are genuinely engaging with the banks and financial institutions are not losing their homes. The Government is anxious that the agreements in place with the Financial Regulator, the Irish Banking Federation and the financial institutions are designed to ensure people are left in their homes.
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: It would be inappropriate for me to pre-empt the findings of a report that will arise in a month by setting out new guidelines. It is more appropriate to wait for the report to be published. It is examining the 30-hour rule, the trend in the administration and costs of the programme, the impact of the code of practice on mortgage arrears and on mortgage interest supplement and the impact of...
- Social Welfare Code. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: The scheme is designed to enable people to stay in their homes. However, when granting such an amount, it is reasonable to see if it could be afforded in the first place or, more particularly, in a year when they are back in employment.
- Employment Support Services. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: Activation initiatives are designed to assist and facilitate people on social welfare payments to return to the active labour force. The Government has a comprehensive approach to keeping as many people as possible in work. Protecting existing jobs and supporting the creation of new opportunities is a key priority and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment plays the central role...
- Employment Support Services. (23 Feb 2010)
Mary Hanafin: I regret that parliamentary questions are not being answered. Unlike the information I have, which concerns general policy, Members of the Dáil tend to ask questions about individual persons. Rightly, I do not have access to that kind of information, and cannot facilitate Members.