Results 1,081-1,100 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My department provides the Domiciliary Care Allowance which is a monthly payment to a parent or guardian for a child aged up to 16 who has a severe disability and requires care and attention substantially over and above that required by other children their age. From January 2024, the rate of Domiciliary Care Allowance increased from €330 to €340 per month. This monthly payment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: This Government acknowledges the important role that carers, play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, once a person has met the minimum requirement of 520 paid contributions, the current State Pension (Contributory) system provides measures including PRSI credits, Homemaking Disregards and HomeCaring Periods to recognise caring periods of up to 20 years...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. Carer's Benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce to care for a child or an adult in need...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult in need of full-time care and attention. The payment is available to any resident within the European Union or UK who meets the qualifying conditions. To qualify, the Carer must satisfy PRSI conditions, employment conditions, show that they are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Carer’s Support Grant (CSG) is an annual payment paid to people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance (CA), Carer’s Benefit (CARB) or Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA). Other people who are not in receipt of a social welfare payment but who are providing full time care and attention may also be eligible and can apply for the grant as a stand-alone payment. The CSG is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: I published the Green Paper on Disability Reform in September last year. The Green Paper sought to reform my Department's system of disability payments to better target supports and better account for the cost of disability. It did not propose a cost of care payment. The Green Paper was a consultation document. Feedback from the public consultation raised concerns about its proposals. In...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The participant numbers requested by the Deputy for the different schemes are set out below. TheBack to Education Allowanceprovides income support for jobseekers and others in receipt of certain social welfare payments who pursue full-time courses of education at further or higher level. The focus of the scheme is to assist people improve their qualifications and as a result improve their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Business Supports (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department offers a range of employment supports to jobseekers including back to work schemes which support the commencement of self-employment. The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) scheme offers support for jobseekers and others in receipt of certain social welfare payments who are interested in self-employment as a route to re-entering the labour market. The allowance is payable...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: In 2023, I introduced legislation for a series of landmark reforms to the State Pension system in response to the recommendations from the Pensions Commission. This set of measures represented the biggest ever structural reform of the Irish State Pension system. One of the key measures under these reforms, which came into operation from the 1st January 2024, is the introduction of a flexible...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: At present the State Pension (Contributory) can be calculated under two different methods known as the Total Contributions Approach (TCA) and the Yearly Average (YA) approach. Following on from the Pensions Commission's recommendations, a number of State pension reforms were enacted in the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 on the 14th December 2023, which represent the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The introduction of an automatic enrolment (AE) retirement savings system is a Programme for Government commitment and a key priority for me as the Minister for Social Protection. Implementation of the AE system is now well underway, with the recent enactment of the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act 2024 and the announcement of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the preferred...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Free Travel Scheme is available to all persons aged over 66 and those under age 66 on certain qualified payments, who are living legally and permanently in the State. The scheme permits those who are eligible to travel for free on most CIE public transport services, Local Link, LUAS and a range of transport services offered by private transport operators countrywide. In Budget 2024,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Child Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16, 17 and 18 if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves. In Budget 2024, Child Benefit was extended to include payment in respect of 18-year-olds. Over 58,000 children benefitted...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Application Forms (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age 66 on the 4 August 2024. They applied for a State Pension (contributory) in January 2024. An award letter issued to them in April 2024 advising that they qualified for a reduced rate of pension from 4 August 2024. Based on their social insurance record at that time the person concerned had yearly average was 20 which gave entitlement to €236.10...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that there is no record of any appeal by the person concerned having been received by that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Application Forms (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions. I can confirm that the DA payment of person concerned was reviewed following the return of a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Application Forms (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions. I can confirm my Department received an application for DA from one the people detailed on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Application Forms (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. I confirm that my Department received an application for CA from the person concerned on 19 July 2024. The application was...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Coláiste Íosagáin project is intended to repurpose a former residential school to provide a Regional Development Centre (RDC) to include enterprise development, training and research facilities. In doing so, it will support economic development and facilitate the creation of jobs in the region. Latest estimates provided to my department indicate a c. €8.7m overall...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (9 Sep 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) provides funding for the development and enhancement of outdoor recreational infrastructure such as walking trails, cycleways and blue ways throughout rural Ireland. Since the launch of the scheme in 2016, funding of over €129 million has supported more than 1,700 projects across the country. Under Measure 3 of the 2020 scheme,...