Results 1,061-1,080 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (6 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: A Social Welfare Inspector recently interviewed the person in question. The Inspector has requested additional documentation so that a report on her case can be finalised. His report will be forwarded to a Deciding Officer who will make a decision on this case as soon as possible on receipt of the report. Under Social Welfare legislation decisions in relation to claims must be made by...

Order of Business (6 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: One could not organise such an instruction. How could one regulate it?

Written Answers — Payment Delivery Service: Payment Delivery Service (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: Following the Government decision in 1999 to extend the An Post contract for the delivery of social welfare payments for a further 3 years, a complaint was lodged with the European Commission alleging that the decision breached Ireland's obligations under: (a) the competition articles of the EU Treaty, and (b) Directive 92/50/EU — the Procurement (Services) Directive. The...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 55 together. The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social assistance schemes and child benefit with effect from 1st of May 2004. It was introduced in the context of the Government's decision to open the Irish labour market to workers from the 10 new EU Member States without the...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The provision of occupational pensions in Ireland is on a voluntary basis and depends on the willingness of employers to contribute to and maintain schemes for their employees. Traditionally, such schemes were organised on a defined benefit basis. However, in recent years defined benefit (DB) provision has been under significant cost pressure because of volatility in the stock markets and...

Written Answers — Adult Education: Adult Education (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The Carers allowance is essentially designed for full-time carers. Carers are allowed to work or attend a course of study for up to 15 hours per week, in recognition of the economic and therapeutic values of work and courses of study, while still safeguarding the needs of the care recipient. My Department administers a range of back to education programmes, under the umbrella of its social...

Written Answers — Budgeting Advice Services: Budgeting Advice Services (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 18, 21, 35, 64, 66, 67, 72 and 89 together. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. There are 52 independent companies nation-wide operating the service. The credit union movement has been a key partner in MABS since its inception and their...

Written Answers — Advocacy Services: Advocacy Services (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The introduction of a personal advocacy service is provided for in the Citizens Information Act, 2007. The Act has as its primary purpose the amendment of the Comhairle Act, 2000, to assign additional and enhanced functions to the Citizens Information Board, formerly Comhairle, which operates under the aegis of my Department, to enable it to introduce a personal advocacy service to...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: In Budget 2006, I announced a wide range of important reforms for non-contributory pensioners in conjunction with the introduction of the State Pension (non-contributory). These reforms included improvements to the means test for pensioners generally, including the raising of the weekly means disregard from €7.60 to €20. As part of the pension reforms, I also announced a specific...

Written Answers — Social Protection Expenditure: Social Protection Expenditure (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the EU, publishes comparisons of social protection expenditure as a percentage of GDP across the European Union. This includes not only social welfare expenditure but also expenditure in areas such as health care, social housing, employment support programmes and other social inclusion programmes. The latest such statistics were published recently by the EU...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: In the context of an overall review of targeted child income support payments, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) was asked to examine the feasibility of merging the family income supplement with child dependant allowance and possibly including other child supports such as the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, resulting in a single second tier child income support....

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 54 together. The report by ERM Consulting Poverty and Social Inclusion, Linking Local and National Structures, which I recently launched, is being examined by the Office for Social Inclusion in my Department and by other Departments, including the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The importance attached by the report to the...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 22, 24, 32, 53, 65, 70 and 165 together. As part of the health service reform programme, the Government has decided to transfer certain functions, associated staff and other resources from the Health Service Executive to my Department. The functions to be transferred include the supplementary welfare allowance and infectious diseases maintenance allowance...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 25, 42, 52, 56 and 62 together. The review of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme was carried out as part of the Government's Expenditure Review Initiative series of Programme Evaluation reviews. Overall the review concluded that the scheme has, over the years, met its objective of guaranteeing that every person in the State has a minimum level of...

Written Answers — Citizens Information: Citizens Information (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 26, 82 and 92 together. The Citizens Information Act 2007 provides for the introduction of a personal advocacy service and for the renaming of Comhairle as the Citizens Information Board. The name has been changed under the Citizens Information Act 2007 to more clearly represent the functions of the organisation and link it more directly to the citizens...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 63 and 76 together. As the House will be aware, in early 2005 I asked the Pensions Board to undertake a review of overall pensions strategy because I considered that, on the basis of the progress being made at that time, there was little prospect of reaching the targets set by the Pensions Board for pensions coverage within a reasonable timescale. The...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: The pre-Budget submission from the One Family organisation called for funding to be provided for a number of pilot family law and children's centres which would provide information and support services to families that have experienced breakdown and are affected by new family formation. As this proposal is primarily focussed on the provision of family law information and the legal impact of...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 29, 71 and 90 together. The most recent figures published by the CSO for supplementary pensions coverage relate to the fourth quarter of 2005 and show that 50.6% of women in employment had a private or occupational pension, compared to a coverage rate for men of 58.3% and a rate of 55% for the workforce as a whole. This is a significant improvement on the...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 30 and 79 together. The national fuel scheme assists householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive payments to meet the cost of their heating needs during the winter season. Fuel allowances are paid for 29 weeks from the end of September to mid-April. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's normal heating expenses....

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (1 Mar 2007)

Séamus Brennan: It is clear that being at work significantly reduces the risks of poverty and deprivation. However, despite economic advances of the past years, some families find themselves dependent on low wage employment. It is important to ensure that work pays and a number of policy instruments crossing a range of Departments are used as a way of preventing poverty amongst the working poor. These...