Results 10,481-10,500 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

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

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this. My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. Entitlement to these supports is contingent on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person's capacity to work. It is not dependent on the nature of the illness or disability. As a result, I do...

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

Heather Humphreys: I appreciate the point the Deputy is making. I recognise that Covid-19 impacted people differently. Some people who had it felt it was just like a bad cold and there were others, particularly those with underlying conditions and older people, on whom it impacted very seriously. All the measures the Government took over the last two years, including the various restrictions and so forth,...

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

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Under family law, parents and certain categories of guardians or those acting in the place of parents are obliged to maintain their children. In cases where the family unit has broken down, these obligations continue to apply. Child maintenance arrangements can be agreed directly between the parties themselves, with the assistance of their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body with responsibility for the Citizens Information Service (CIS). CIB provides funding to eight CIS companies that operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres. Each CIS is a limited company overseen by a board of directors and makes decisions independently on the delivery of services in their regions. Therefore,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Ukraine War (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In March, the Council of the European Union unanimously adopted the implementing decision regarding the Temporary Protection Directive. This means that people arriving from Ukraine have been granted the status to avail of the supports and services, including income supports and employment services, provided by my Department. In order to ensure people fleeing the war are supported as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Blind Pension is a means-tested payment paid to blind and visually impaired people who are habitually resident in Ireland. Eligibility for Blind Pension requires that a person’s vision is impaired to such an extent that they cannot perform any work for which eyesight is essential or cannot continue in their ordinary occupation. When awarded a Blind Pension a person automatically...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Department, through its Intreo service and together with its service partners, is constantly engaged in work to help jobseekers prepare for and secure employment. We do this through one-on-one case officer supports, through developing and funding employment and training programmes, through providing recruitment services such as JobsIeland.ie to employers, through offering recruitment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is currently undertaking a significant expansion of public employment services. In particular, specialised employment services for those farthest from the labour market - previously available in just twelve counties - will soon be available State-wide for the first time. In the first phase of this procurement, contracts for Intreo Partners - Local Area Employment Services...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP) is a key policy initiative under the Government's national employment services strategy, Pathways to Work 2021-2025. It is a funded work placement scheme to provide quality work experience to unemployed jobseekers to build their skills and experience. The placements run for 6 months at 30 hours per week to include time spent on training. All...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Payments are only suspended where there is a valid reason for doing so. This can include circumstances such as a failure by a person to sign a declaration of unemployment or to reply to a request from my Department for information in order to progress a claim review or investigation. Under the principles of natural justice where a person may be adversely affected by a determination to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Given the references to JobPath contractors, I am assuming that the Deputy is referring to JobPath rather than the now defunct Jobbridge scheme. Referrals to JobPath will cease at the end of June this year. Individuals already engaged with the JobPath service could potentially continue their engagement until June 2023. Given the contractual requirements to provide in-work supports to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Community Welfare Service of my Department may make discretionary payments to help people with additional costs that could not reasonably be expected to be met out of their weekly income. Under this scheme, a supplement can be awarded to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist qualifying households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Artists' Remuneration (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, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. It is expected that there will be 2,000 participants on the pilot scheme which will run for three years. It is important to stress that a payment under the pilot Basic Income for Artists is not a social protection...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 126 together. I welcome the recent publication of the 2021 SILC data, which shows improvements across the key national poverty indicators, including child poverty. The data shows that household incomes across all income deciles have increased and also that income inequality has decreased. Throughout the last number of years, social transfers...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Indecon report highlighted that the ‘Cost of Disability’ is significantly wider than the income support system and found that there is not a single typical ‘cost of disability’; rather there is a spectrum from low additional costs to extremely high extra costs of disability, depending on the individual circumstances of the person concerned. Additional costs...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 97, 106, 113 and 133 together. In March I announced that Government approval had been given to the final design principles for the auto-enrolment (AE) retirement savings system. The Deputies may wish to note that a detailed explanatory paper on the new system has been published on www.gov.ie. The system is expected to become operational in early 2024,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I was pleased to announce, that, as part of the Budget 2022 measures, the period of time in which both Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) and Carer’s Allowance (CA) are paid in circumstances where a child, up to the age of 16, in respect of whom either DCA or CA is in payment, is hospitalised on a full-time basis for an extended period has increased from 13 weeks to 26 weeks since...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Home Care Sector (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: In 2021 and 2022, my Department has engaged with homecare sectoral representatives and directly with employers to support them in filling their vacancies in the homecare sector. This has taken the form of a number of recruitment events online for Ireland-based jobseekers and also across the EU/EEA in collaboration with EURES. Healthcare Recruitment in Ireland Online Job Days were held in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (17 May 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. All claim decisions taken by the Department’s Deciding Officers and Designated Persons are appealable to the Chief Appeals Officer. In any year about 85% of all...