Results 101-120 of 14,252 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020–2025 is the national strategy for poverty reduction and improved social inclusion. It includes a goal of reducing child poverty in Ireland and ensuring that all families have the opportunity to participate fully in society. The Roadmap commits to setting a new national child poverty target and this was reiterrated. The Mid-Term Review of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The new Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce the Automatic Enrolment (AE) Retirement Savings System. The legislative basis for implementing the new system was enacted last July. The aim of introducing AE is to address the pension coverage gap that exists in Ireland and to provide workers with greater comfort and security regarding their retirement savings. The new...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Age-related reduced rates apply to jobseekers aged 18 to 24 years in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance to prevent long-term welfare dependency. If a young jobseeker participates in education or training, they receive up to the maximum personal rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance of €244. If they participate on the Work Placement Experience Programme the weekly rate increases up to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Casual Jobseekers are people whose days of work have been reduced or they can only find part-time or casual work. They must be unemployed for at least 4 days out of 7 consecutive days. The statistics requested by the Deputy are provided in the table below. Figures relate to 31st of December each year unless otherwise stated. Year Casual Jobseekers Allowance ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Programme for Government, we will introduce a new Working Age Payment which will ensure that individuals always see an increase in income when they work or take on additional hours. The Working Age Payment will remove inconsistencies and anomalies in the current Jobseekers Allowance Scheme which discourage people from taking up employment. We will publish draft proposals for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a range of financial supports for people transitioning to employment and I will outline some of the key supports. A person can work up to three days and continue to receive a partial jobseeker’s payment. Under Jobseeker's Allowance, the first €20 of earnings per day is disregarded up to a maximum of €60 for three days worked, with the balance...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Policies (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Programme for Government includes a commitment to expand and build on successful programmes like WorkAbility, Employability and the new Work and Access programme to support people with disabilities into employment. In July 2024,the new Work and Access scheme was launched, replacing the former Reasonable Accommodation Fund and the Disability Awareness Support Scheme. Work and Access...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Domestic Violence (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Tackling the epidemic of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a major priority for the Government. The Programme for Government includes a number of commitments in this regard. Establishing a zero-tolerance approach to domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence is vital for safeguarding individuals and promoting a safer society. We will ensure the implementation of the actions in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Under the Pathways to Work Strategy, my Department committed to host two national Intreo Work and Skills campaigns annually, each of which comprises a series of recruitment and information events nationwide. The objective of Intreo Work and Skills is to provide opportunities for employment for jobseekers, coupled with education and training options to enhance employability. The most...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Funding under the School Meals Programme can be provided for breakfast, snack, cold lunch, dinner, hot...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Inquiries (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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 functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an appeal for this customer was received and registered on the 31st of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Inquiries (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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 medical assessment, a means test, and habitual residency conditions. The Department periodically reviews claims in payment to ensure that there is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Budgets (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending in 2025 is expected to amount to over €1.9 billion...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The SAFE registration process is the process through which a person satisfies the Minister for Social Protection as to their identity. A customer's identity is verified by attending an in-person appointment at their local Public Services Card or Intreo SAFE Registration Centre. At their appointment the person provides evidence of their identity and address; their photo is taken and their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The requested figures for Disability Allowance are shown below. The figures for 'Average Weeks to Award' is the average time between an claim being registered and the claim being awarded for successful claims. Note that the figures for quarter 1 2025 correspond to 1 January - 31 March 2025. - Claims Registered Awarded Rejected Average Weeks to Award...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Care Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. The Programme for Government has set out a specific timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: There is a nutritional standard in place for the School Meals Programme since it’s inception. A specific standard was set for School Meals under the Nutritional Standards for School Meals and Nutritional Standards for Hot School Meals. A technical Nutrition Sub Group comprised of Dietitians from the following organisations was involved in developing these standards:The Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Financial Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is committed to supporting families in caring for their children and a wide range of supports are available across Departments to ease the financial pressure on families. My Department provides a number of such key supports. Child Benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: 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 functions. As the Deputy is aware, there are currently legal proceedings before the Courts in relation to this subject. Therefore, it would...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The State Pension (Contributory) (SPC) is funded from the Social Insurance Fund through the contributions paid by workers. The rate of payment reflects the number of social insurance contributions paid over a working life. Eligibility for the SPC is based on a number of criteria:Being aged 66 or over.Having entered the Social Insurance system at least 10 years before you intend to drawdown...