Results 11,841-11,860 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (8 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages across rural Ireland. A total of €277 million has been allocated to 191 projects across the country, worth a total of €375 million. Calls for applications to the Fund are sought under two categories – Category 1 and Category 2....

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Covid-19 Pandemic (8 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The following amounts were paid by my Department on Covid-19 related consultancy contracts: 2020 2021 2022 €3,444 €2,214 nil The services provided were Covid-19 risk assessments and advice relating to our offices in Ballina and Dublin. The services were procured using a Framework Agreement established by the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Official Travel (8 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Government is in the process of finalising the programme to mark St Patrick’s Day around the world. This will include a programme of visits by ministers that will be approved by the government early this month, and which will be made public immediately afterwards.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The cost of disability research is significantly broader than income supports and it is clear that the findings in the research will have implications for many areas of public policy, including the delivery of care services, health, housing, education, transport and income supports. These relevant Departments have been requested to examine the work they are currently committed to undertaking...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Dealing with the cost of disability requires a whole-of-government approach. The reform of disability payments will take on board the recommendations of the report and it is clear a whole-of-government response is needed. There are recommendations in respect of housing, health, education, transport and others, and from a social protection perspective one of the recommendations is a payment...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I agree with the Deputy that we must help more people with disabilities get back to the workforce. That is very important. I worked to extend the Ability programme last year. That was funded through the EU and funding was due to finish but I met the appropriate people and ensured the Dormant Accounts Fund could support this excellent programme. I was given an outline of what the programme...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Schemes (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I apologise but I did not expect to get to this question.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Schemes (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: If that is okay I will get the reply sent to her. We were very quick getting through questions today.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: As we know, the State pension provides a basic level of income and an effective protection against pensioner poverty. It is not designed or intended to secure full pension adequacy for all retirees in the sense of replacing employment income on retirement. One does have a situation where people have a sudden drop in their income and that is where one needs to have a supplementary pension. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: Yes. Everybody will have to sign up to the system and people will get the choice to opt out at certain stages. We have looked at international experience and, in general, when people sign up for a pension most of them continue. Some younger people will think that if they have saved money and put it into a pension pot for five or six years that they should be allowed access the money. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. I am pleased to report that claim processing is up to date with processing targets met, or exceeded, on average for all the main scheme areas. As an example, over the past two years substantial improvements in processing performance was achieved across...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: For the record, the staff of the Department of Social Protection have processed over 1.8 million applications for the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, alone during Covid. There is normally about 200,000 applications per annum for the jobseeker's allowance. We have all acknowledged the good work that my staff have done and it is important that we do not forget that my staff have processed...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy is right. It is hard to beat a face to face interaction. Many times applications are turned down because all of the information has not been provided and perhaps people are unaware that it was an important piece of information that would help make a decision on their application. We were able to do some oral hearings and appeals online during Covid. We continue to use new...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Post Office Network (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The back to education allowance scheme provides people with a second chance education that will improve their prospects of securing employment. It enables eligible people to pursue approved education courses and continue to receive income support for the duration of a course of study, subject to meeting certain conditions. The provision for the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: This scheme was originally intended for people who had not completed their secondary education and wanted to get back to work. The Deputy will appreciate that if we were to say that people could get a payment throughout their education cycle, the costs of funding people the whole way through their education would be significant. We consider that people with primary degrees are well-placed...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I cannot go into the details of the individual case the Deputy has raised but if he wishes to forward me a note on it, I will be happy to examine the matter.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: My Department's allocation of €96.5 million for 2021 has been increased to €105.4 million for 2022. This is a considerable investment in supporting participants to acquire the necessary education and skills to re-enter the labour market. Giving those who already have a degree further supports to obtain a master’s qualification, other than in the exceptional...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I know that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (3 Feb 2022)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for asking this question. The programme for Government commits to introducing a pensions automatic enrolment system. The objective of this commitment is to increase the proportion of employees in Ireland with supplementary pension cover, which includes both occupational and personal pensions. According to figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, the rate of...