Results 1,261-1,280 of 14,437 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Local Development Companies (11 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Community groups and volunteers throughout the country have played an important role in supporting families and vulnerable groups, in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn. This has complemented the Cross Government response by government departments, local authorities, utility companies and emergency services, in particular with regard to the areas impacted for a long period of time. In...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Projects (11 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Town centre regeneration is a key focus of my Department and the funding schemes available within the Department are guided by the national Town Centre First policy which seeks to tackle vacancy and ensure our rural towns are vibrant and lived-in places. As the Deputy will be aware, the property referred to and known as Grant’s Hotel in Roscrea is a privately owned property and as...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Expenditure (11 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services for my Department are provided by the Office of the Government Chief Information Office (OGCIO) and, therefore, there is limited use of external ICT services. On occasion, the Department procures external ICT services to supplement the managed desktop service and helpdesk provided by the OGCIO. This includes, for example, support to...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Ministerial Responsibilities (11 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am currently in discussions regarding the delegation of functions to the Minister of State within my Department. A formal delegation of functions order will be drafted in the coming weeks. Once finalised and signed, the order will be made available on the Irish Statute Book.

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Regeneration Projects (11 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) provides funding for the development and construction of large scale capital projects in towns, villages and rural areas across Ireland. Funding is allocated to local authorities and other State-funded bodies, who take the lead role in individual projects. Calls for applications to the RRDF are sought under two categories, Category 1 and...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Regeneration Projects (11 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and established to support more compact and sustainable development, through the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns. Administered by my Department, the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) is a major...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Projects (11 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department operates a large number of funding schemes aimed at supporting communities and community facilities. In order to empower local responses to local needs, the majority of schemes operated by my Department are administered in partnership with the Local Authorities, Pobal, or the Local Development Companies. It should be noted that other Departments also operate schemes with regard...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Pensions Authority does not receive any declarations and does not approve any transfers to overseas arrangements for individual scheme members and individual PRSA contributors. The requirements to be in a position to process such a transfer payment to an overseas arrangement are on the trustees of the pension scheme or the PRSA provider, as the case may be, and are set out in the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (6 Feb 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 Appeals Officer, having fully considered all the evidence, disallowed...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Fuel Allowance is a means tested payment to help with the cost of heating a home during the winter months, payable to people who either live alone or only with certain other qualified people. An application for Fuel Allowance was received from the person concerned on 03 January 2025. The application was assessed by a Deciding Officer. The claim was disallowed, because the household...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (6 Feb 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. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 5th...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Artificial Intelligence (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is currently examining the potential future use of A.I. technologies. This has involved active participation in several stakeholder groups, providing observations to The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the EU AI Act drafts and its implementation. An A.I. Chatbot on the MyGovID platform is in use, providing real-time advice to customers on how best to use...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My department provides the Domiciliary Care Allowance which is a monthly non-means tested 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 2025, the rate of Domiciliary Care Allowance increased from €340 to €360 per month....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly allowance payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of the child's disability is such that the child is likely to require this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 158 and 159 together. The key role of the Department of Social Protection is that of income support for people experiencing specific contingencies that limit their ability to earn an income. These contingencies include unemployment, illness/disability and caring responsibilities. These payments reflect the fact that, people experiencing these...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (6 Feb 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 a medical assessment, a means test and the habitual residency conditions. Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable in respect of a child aged under 16...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department has not employed any quantity surveyors as of 30 January 2025.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Contracts (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: Consultancy is defined by the Department of Finance as where a person or organisation provides intellectual or knowledge-based services (e.g. expert analysis and advice) through delivering reports, studies, assessments, recommendations, proposals, etc. that contribute to decision making or policy development. Details as requested by the Deputy are set out below. Consultants enlisted by...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Flexible Work Practices (6 Feb 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department is supportive of blended working and was one of the first to introduce a blended working policy. This Policy, developed in line with the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service Organizations, offers a varied attendance model, depending on the staff role and business needs. The ability to effectively meet the needs of each business area and ensuring high-quality...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (6 Feb 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. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 25th...