Results 10,461-10,480 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: On an ongoing basis, and as part of the normal budgetary cycle, my Department actively monitors key economic indicators and also takes account of research data, including data on the minimum essential standard of living from the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice. The social impact of budget measures is also assessed using the SWITCH model developed by the ESRI. It is through this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Data from SILC in 2021 are the official poverty data for Ireland. The survey was undertaken in 2021 and refers to 2020 income. I will give the Deputy a few figures from it. The rate of consistent poverty reduced from 4.7% in 2020 to 4% in 2021. The number of people at-risk of poverty reduced from 13.2% to 11.6%. The deprivation rate reduced from 14.3% to 13.8% in 2021. Social transfers...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Government has taken significant action which I have already listed. It includes a lump sum of €125 and a further lump sum payment of €100 this week; a €200 energy credit; excise reductions on fuel; public transport fare reductions of 20%; and the retention of lower VAT levels in the hospitality sector. On top of that, we introduced the largest social welfare...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Schemes (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has been designing a new model of externally provided public employment services since 2019. This is required to comply with the legal obligation to ensure such services are procured through a competitive process. For almost three and half years, extensive consultation with existing providers and representative bodies, including the Irish Local Development Network and trade...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: We have to acknowledge there are a number of different measures in the survey. Two of them have increased but everything else has reduced, whether it is consistent poverty, at risk of poverty, deprivation rates or social transfers. As I mentioned, Covid-19 income supports reduced the risk of poverty from 19.9% to 11.6%. Consistent poverty for children reduced from 7.2% to 5.2%, while...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Live Register (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Prior to the onset of Covid-19 in March 2020, the labour market was performing strongly and the live register, which measures people claiming standard jobseeker's payments, stood at just over 183,000. By May 2020, this number had increased to just under 226,000. At its peak, the combined total of people in receipt of jobseeker's payments or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Live Register (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: It is very clear the intervention we took during Covid worked. The economy was able to bounce back and businesses got back again. The EWSS was particularly successful in keeping employees linked to their employers so when the Covid restrictions lifted they were ready to go. The PUP was absolutely essential. It is encouraging to see many, if not all, the people on the PUP are back at work....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Live Register (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: We have increased resources in the area of PPS numbers. There is huge demand at present, which the Deputy will appreciate, since we have just issued almost 32,000 PPS numbers to Ukrainians who are coming to this country. We have increased the resources in that area. Deputy O'Dowd talked about skills shortages. I was at the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, VFI, conference last week. We...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I appreciate the point the Deputy is making. I will give him a few sums on this. As a result of the income disregards we have put in place, a person in receipt of a disability allowance payment of €208 who qualifies for the €325 basic income for the arts payment will end up with a combined income of €443. That is a 113% increase, which is more than double the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: We need to look at this more widely to improve the situation for all people with disabilities. Of course I want to do more. As part of the cost of disability report, my Department is looking at the whole area of disability payments and at how we can make the system fairer. One of the recommendations in that report is to move away from the flat rate of €208 towards a tiered payment...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this. I welcome the recent publication of the 2021 survey on income and living conditions, which shows improvements across all key national poverty indicators. The data once again show that our social protection system performs strongly in protecting our most vulnerable citizens. Social transfers have reduced the at-risk-of-poverty rate from 38.6% to 11.6%....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: We try to target the resources where they have the most impact. However, if we increased the rates to meet the MESL, it would cost €2.4 billion more in one year for working-age payments. That would be lot of money. It would be a considerable increase. We have taken measures to address the cost of living. For example, €100 is being paid out this week for the fuel allowance...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I do not have a specific scheme that depends on one's medical condition. The scheme we have covers all medical conditions. They Deputy said that if somebody is looking for invalidity pension, he or she may have to reach certain criteria. I am open to looking at issues but, as it stands, I cannot say that somebody who has long Covid should get a different payment from somebody who has...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I will look at it.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The pensions commission's report was published on 7 October 2021. It contained almost 250 pages of analysis, consideration and recommendations. The report established that the current State pension system is not sustainable into the future, and it set out a recommended approach for the Government. In the interests both of older people and future generations of older people - the young...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In fairness, it has been a busy few months and the Department has been dealing with the situation in Ukraine. We issued 32,000 PPS numbers in recent weeks, put income supports in place for the Ukrainians coming here, and we have worked with them to help them get into employment. Some 2,500 are already working. Today, the Department will administer the new €400 recognition payment....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Pensions Reform (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: There is a recommendation in the pensions commission's report on family carers and we will take that into consideration in totality with the other recommendations in the report. I am confident that the Government will agree a response to the commission's report. We will do so in order that people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s can retire in the knowledge that there will be a State pension...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The pilot basic income scheme for artists, which the Government launched in April, is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht, and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. Her Department is leading this project, including the associated stakeholder engagement, and any requests for meetings to discuss the pilot should be directed accordingly. Officials from...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Family Support Services (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In fairness, I am aware that the Deputy has a strong interest in this matter and she has raised it with me a number of times in the House. I have the report now. It runs to a couple of hundred pages. The group and the chair, Judge Catherine Murphy, took approximately 18 months to examine this. They asked for a time extension and we gave it to them. It is clear from the report that they...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Family Support Services (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I intend to bring a memorandum to the Government with the full report and our proposed response. I can assure the Deputy that this report is not going to sit on a shelf anywhere in the Department of Social Protection. I am coming to this with an open mind, as I have said previously. My priority in all this is the mothers and the children. The Deputy and I have discussed this on a number...