Results 11,481-11,500 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Department of Social Protection administers the Telephone Support Allowance (TSA) which is a weekly payment of €2.50, which may assist people who qualify under the Seniors Alert Scheme, among others. Customers of my Department who are in receipt of a qualifying payment and who are also in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance and the Fuel Allowance automatically qualify for the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 496 and 497 together. The Pensions Commission was established, inter alia, to develop options for Government to consider in addressing the sustainability of the State pension system and the social insurance fund. The Commission presented its report to Government late last year and unambiguously established that the current State Pension is not sustainable...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 498 and 499 together. The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, which is supporting up to an estimated 400, 000 households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 500, 501 and 502 together. The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 each year) from October to April, to an estimated up to 400,000 low-income households in 2022, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €924 over a full fuel season) from October to April, at an estimated cost of €366 million in 2022.  It is estimated that up to 400,000 households will benefit from this payment in 2022.  The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs.  The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Detailed information on recipients and expenditure are published annually by my Department at gov.ie/dsp/statistics, including an archive of reports from 1998. The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below. Work is currently ongoing in respect of the 2021 report, which is due to be published in Q2 this year. Expenditure is incurred and recorded at the scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Government recognises the important role that family carers play in Irish society and is fully committed to their support through a range of supports and services.  The main income supports to carers provided by my Department include Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance, and the Carer's Support Grant. Spending on these payments in 2022 is expected...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Gender Equality (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The main policy measure to enhance the equality of women in our society is set out in the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020 which set out a range of equality objectives specifically aimed for women. My department has advanced the following important actions to meet the equality objectives in the Strategy and progress opportunities for women.  A number of strands of activity...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: There was a delay in processing the Illness Benefit claim from the person concerned as the claim had not been submitted within the required timeframe. Following a review of the particular circumstances involved, a decision was made to award the claim from the date of the commencement of the absence and a payment of €4,804.34 has been issued. I trust this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I am advised that an application for carer's allowance by the person concerned was disallowed by a Deciding Officer of the Department on 11 March 2021.  The person concerned sought a review of the decision on 25 March 2021 and was informed by the Department on 14 April 2021 that, on the basis of the review, the decision was not being revised.  In the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Currently the person concerned has not made a claim for Jobseekers Benefit or Assistance, or for any of the Illness Schemes offered by the Department.  In order to be eligible for Jobseekers Benefit or Allowance a person must be involuntarily unemployed, must be capable of work, must be available for full time work and must be genuinely seeking work. In this case, as the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) was one of the key measures introduced on 15 March 2020 to cushion the impact on incomes as a direct consequence of the Government mandated public health measures. To date expenditure on the scheme is over €9.1 billion. Flexibility has been provided to the self-employed to take up and receive payment for occasional or intermittent...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Professional Artist scheme under jobseekers allowance is an initiative of the all-of-Government Creative Ireland Programme, introduced while I had ministerial responsibility for the Arts.  The scheme was initially introduced as a pilot scheme and was available to professional writers and visual artists.   In September 2019 the Professional Artist Scheme was introduced...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme offers a safety net within the overall social welfare system by providing assistance to those whose means are insufficient to meet their own needs and those of their dependents. Under the scheme, my Department may award a supplement to assist with on going or recurring costs that cannot be met from the person's own resources and are deemed to be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Government acknowledges the important role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role.  This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy. The key role of the Department of Social Protection is to provide income support where an income need arises because of a particular...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Workers who have concerns in relation to their employment status have recourse to the Department’s Scope section.  This section determines employment status and the correct class of pay-related social insurance (PRSI).  Where misclassification of workers as self-employed is detected, the correct status and class is determined and PRSI arrears are calculated. Following a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Maternity Benefit is a payment made for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions on their own insurance record. For the person concerned to qualify for payment of Maternity Benefit, in addition to having met the PRSI contributions for the tax year relevant to her claim, she must also be in insurable employment that is covered by the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the attached tabular statements Applications No. People who applied for Maternity Benefit in 2021 46,425 -of which Awarded 43,544 Disallowed 1,307 Other (including withdrawn claims or pending decision at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested by the Deputy is included in the attached tabular statements Applications No. People who applied for Illness Benefit in 2021 440,875 -of which Awarded 353,021 Disallowed 17,384 Other (including withdrawn claims or pending decision at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 519, 520, 521, 522 and 523 together. The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme is the safety net within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents.  Supports provided under the SWA scheme can consist of a basic weekly...