Results 11,181-11,200 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned submitted an application for Invalidity Pension on 26 January 2022. It was decided that the relevant year in this case is 2021. According to the Department’s records there are 0 weeks qualifying contributions paid or credited for her in the contribution year prior to the relevant date (2020) and 0 weeks qualifying contributions paid or credited for her in the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (24 Mar 2022)

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 can confirm that the person concerned was in receipt of CA in respect of her care recipient from 31 May 2012 to 30...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. There are no delays in processing claims once all of the necessary information is provided to establish entitlement to Carer's Allowance. The average number of weeks to award new Carer's Allowance...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Agriculture Industry (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, Farm Assist is a form of Jobseekers Allowance. It is a means-tested payment for low-income farmers. To qualify, a customer must be a farmer in the State, be aged between 18 and 66, and satisfy a means test (as is the case for all Jobseeker’s Allowance claims). To enable the accurate enumeration of recipients of Farm Assist, the Department uses a unique...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, Farm Assist is a form of Jobseekers Allowance. It is a means-tested payment for low-income farmers. To qualify, a customer must be a farmer in the State, be aged between 18 and 66, and satisfy a means test (as is the case for all Jobseeker’s Allowance claims). To enable the accurate enumeration of recipients of Farm Assist, the Department uses a unique...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Farm Assist is an important income support for farmers on low incomes, enabling them to continue to farm while also receiving a State income support. The means test for Farm Assist takes account of all income sources and operating costs, and is flexible to allow for significant fluctuations from one year to the next. Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Calafoirt agus Céanna (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Tá forbairt an Chaladh Mhóir ar Inis Meáin san áireamh sa Phlean Forbartha Náisiúnta. Mar is eol don Teachta is faoi chúram Comhairle Contae na Gaillimhe atá Céim 3 d’fhorbairt na céibhe sin. Bhí cruinniú ag oifigigh na Roinne le Comhairle Contae na Gaillimhe agus coiste áitiúil ar an 18ú Feabhra chun an dul...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Good morning. I thank the Chairman and the committee for the invitation to be here today. I feel very strongly about the need to support people with disabilities in their lives and their work. During my time as Minister, I have sought to make sure that the interests of people with disabilities and carers remain a focus of my Department’s priorities. During the pandemic, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Senator covered a number of issues relating to the costs of disability. The Indecon report on that subject shows there are other factors too that we need to consider in the context of how we support people with disabilities. It is not just the social welfare payment that we need to count; there are other issues and there are other areas where supports are available. Some areas where we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The invalidity pension is paid to people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or disability. It is based on the claimant's social insurance contributions and medical conditions and is not means tested. Increases are payable for qualified adults and children. People in receipt of the invalidity pension are transferred to the contributory State pension when they reach the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: When carer’s allowance is being assessed and the application comes in, the figures I have indicate that it takes an average of five weeks. Those figures have come down considerably over the past number of years. In 2021, applications were turned around on an average of five weeks. I will go through the figures later on the appeals but the fact is that many of the applications fail...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for her comments but I do not agree with most of them. She has selectively picked out everything she could and tried to point out that it is wrong. I am very proud of what I have done in this Department since I came here just one and a half years ago. In our first budget for 2021, I increased the carer's support grand to the highest level ever of €1,850. That was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department commissioned the Indecon cost of disability report, which is being looked at by a committee chaired by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. There are other areas that we must consider when it comes to the cost of disability, including housing, transport and health. The committee in question is also considering these matters. Significant work is taking place and I will work...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I think there is confusion over the figures. Some 28,150 decisions were made. As I said, 13,000 of those were granted. Some 2,700 appeals were allowed by the appeals office, that is, 10% of the overall number of decisions were agreed in the appeals office. Some people do not meet the medical conditions of the scheme set out in the Act. We in the Department must have checks on any scheme...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Department provides carer's allowance, which is a basic income. We do not pay people for the job they do because we could not do that. The purpose of this social protection payment is to give people a basic income for the work they do while they are off other work. There is carer's benefit and carer's allowance. Deputy Murnane O'Connor went into a number of issues, including free...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. I am absolutely committed to helping people with a disability to get back into work. An employer employing a person with a disability for 39 hours per week will receive a payment from the State of €12,776 per annum. This is a significant incentive for employers to offer employment opportunities to people with disabilities. It had been my intention to do a jobs...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I can only speak about my Department. Part 5 of Disability Act 2005 provides for a statutory report on the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector. As part of this report, we conduct an annual disability census survey of our employees and 3,156 employees responded anonymously to the 2021 survey. Of those who responded, 440 disclosed disabilities. This constitutes 6.5%...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Standard of Living and Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (24 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The provision of assistance hours is dealt with by the Department of Health. It is examining the issue. My Department is ensuring that we give opportunities, but I cannot specify how many people get personal assistance hours in my Department. To be honest, I am not sure. I do not know because I do not have those figures. It is important that we provide assistance, however. We will do...