Results 13,221-13,240 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: National Development Plan (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has the following capital allocation under the NDP: 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 €16m €16m €16m €16m €17m The primary focus of this expenditure will be on continual investment in projects to modernise the Department’s business systems and Information...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly payment for a child with a severe disability. In August 2021, there were 45,000 recipients of the payment in respect of 50,000 children. The estimated expenditure on the scheme in 2021 is €197m. My Department commissioned Indecon International Consultants to carry out research into the cost of disability. In line with the commitment contained...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Poverty (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €28.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €784 each year) from October to April, to 370,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Correspondence (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As part of the annual budgetary process, my Department invites pre-Budget submissions from representative bodies. As well as giving consideration to the submissions received, my Department hosts an annual Pre-Budget Forum attended by representative bodies from the community and voluntary sector. This year’s Pre-Budget Forum, held in Dublin Castle in July, was an opportunity for me to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, Section 12A of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 was introduced as a COVID related emergency provision in March 2020. It suspended an employee’s right to claim redundancy from their employer following certain periods of layoff and short-time work. During periods of COVID related public health restrictions and sectoral shut downs, Government was concerned...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The original Old Age Non-Contributory pension was first introduced in Ireland in 1908 via the passing of the Non-contributory Old-Age Pensions Act in Parliament covering the United Kingdom & Ireland. Payment was made, subject to a means test, to those people over the then State Pension Age of 70. There has thus always been an element of means testing for an old age pension in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy will be aware that I have been considering a range of options for Budget 2022 including increases in weekly rates of payment to all Social Welfare recipients, including those in receipt of pensions. Details of the 2022 Budget package will be announced by the Minister for Finance today. It is, I believe, important to emphasise that the Government takes a range of data, not just...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Local Employment Services (LES) provide a one-to-one employment assistance and advice service for the long-term unemployed. My Department currently contracts with a range of providers for the provision of Local Employment Services. Each contract stipulates the duration of the contract which is for a period of 12 months. The current contracts are in place from 01 January 2021 and are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I understand that the Deputy is referring to a position being adopted by an interested party in regard to the ongoing procurement process for employment services. It would be inappropriate to comment on any expectation attributable to a third party or the legitimacy or otherwise of such a position. My Department is at an advanced stage in its first phase of a two-phase procurement for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned was awarded a Jobseeker's Allowance (JA) payment from 31/08/2021. He made an application for a Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) on 30/09/2021 to pursue the 4thyear of a Computer Science degree which had commenced in Maynooth University on 22/09/2021. There are a number of qualifying criteria for receipt of BTEA for the Third Level option. One of these is that the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned applied for a Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) payment with effect from 28/06/2021 after his entitlement to Jobseeker’s Benefit expired on 26/06/2021. JA is a means tested payment. A means test is an assessment of all household income, savings, shares, investments or property that a person owns, apart from their own home. The means test also includes any income...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Following the submission of further medical evidence by the person concerned, their case has been reviewed and they have been awarded disability allowance with effect from 14 July 2021 as they were in receipt of a higher payment of illness benefit (IB) up to that date. The first payment will be made on 27 October 2021. Arrears of payment due will issue as soon as possible once any necessary...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: An application for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 23rd July 2021. Applications are processed in date of receipt order, and the processing of applications received in late July will be underway shortly. The Deciding Officer will notify the customer in writing as soon as the application has been finalised. I hope this clarifies the matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The data requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below. This data is based on the last known address, and is based an analysis of free-text address fields; there may be cases where a postcode is not recorded and so is excluded from the below Year People 2016 7,163 2017 7,362 2018 7,435 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The data requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below. This data is based on the last known address, and is based an analysis of free-text address fields; there may be cases where a postcode is not recorded and so is excluded from the below. Exceptional & Urgent Needs Payments Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments 2016 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Poverty (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of supports, energy efficiency awareness initiatives and investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. With regard to income supports my Department provides a range of schemes to assist with energy costs. These include - - The Fuel...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 25 March 2011. According to the records of my Department, they had a total of 867 full-rate contributions and credits from their date of entry into insurable employment (25 March 1961) until end-December 2010 which gives a yearly average of 17. They were awarded a standard State Pension (contributory), based solely on their Irish contribution...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: There are four (4) statutory bodies operating under the aegis of my Department: the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Pensions Council and the Social Welfare Tribunal. Details in relation to the total membership and gender balance of each of these is set out in tabular format below: Statutory body Total Membership of Board No. of Women...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Ballymun Intreo Centre is open to walk-in customers from 09:15-13:00 Monday to Friday. It remains open to customers to contact the Intreo Centre in person or by post at Main Street, Ballymun, Dublin 9, D09 K8W2. Alternatively, customers can contact the Intreo Centre by phone or email for the following services: Service Phone Email Payments ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (12 Oct 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €28.00 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €784 each year) from October to April, to 370,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €300 million in 2021. The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not...