Results 1,381-1,400 of 4,893 for speaker:Séamus Brennan

Written Answers — Debt Levels: Debt Levels (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 40, 83, 89, 96 and 114 together. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) provides assistance to people who are overindebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. There are 52 independent companies nation-wide operating the service. The credit union movement has been a key partner in MABS since its inception and their involvement and...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8, 23, 44, 76, 78 and 82 together. The most recent results from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Quarterly National Household Survey show that in the first quarter of 2005 51.5% of those at work had supplementary pension coverage. With a working population of just over 2 million, these figures suggest that about 1.03 million workers have a supplementary...

Written Answers — Mobile Telephony: Mobile Telephony (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 64 together. Since taking Office this Government has made the needs of older people a priority with the inclusion of several commitments in the Programme for Government aimed specifically at this group. I am very pleased to say that we have delivered on our commitment to bring the basic State Pension (non-contributory) to €200 a week by increasing it...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 17 together. Last week, I was pleased to announce an increase in the ceiling on reckonable earnings applied to maternity benefit from €332 to €350 per week for 2007. This will raise the maximum rate of payment — based on 80% of reckonable earnings — from €265.60 to €280 per week with effect from 1st January, 2007. The minimum rate of...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 21, 34, 47, 81 and 87 together. The Government discussion paper, Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents, put forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the National Employment Action Plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of childcare; improved information...

Written Answers — EU Surveys: EU Surveys (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 49, 57, 73, 105 and 113 together. The annual EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU–SILC), which commenced in Ireland in 2003, is conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and provides information on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. The most recent results, for the year 2005, record continuing positive trends in relation to...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The weekly value of capital is assessed in a similar manner for both state pension (non-contributory) and farm assist. For both schemes, an initial sum of €20,000 is disregarded and the balance is assessed as means. I understand that the Deputy is referring, in particular, to the difference in the assessment of means generally, including capital, for these schemes in the case of couples....

Written Answers — Cross-Departmental Co-operation: Cross-Departmental Co-operation (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: My Department works in close co-operation with other Government departments and their agencies in carrying out its responsibilities in the provision of income support and other services. This co-operation includes participation in working committees and groups, collaborative working on a bilateral basis in pursuit of specific Government policy objectives and liaison on day to day matters...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 278 together. The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the homemaker's scheme which was introduced from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years (from 1994) spent caring for children or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged...

Written Answers — Payment Delivery Service: Payment Delivery Service (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: Following the Government decision in 1999 to extend the An Post contract for the delivery of social welfare payments for a further 3 years a complaint was lodged with the European Commission under the Procurement Services Directive. The Advocate-General to the European Court of Justice gave an opinion on the case in September 2006 and concurred with the European Commission's view that Ireland...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 and 63 together. In line with a commitment in the social partnership agreement 'Towards 2016', a new National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (NAP inclusion 2007-2016) is currently being prepared by the Office for Social Inclusion in my Department. The Plan will be launched early in 2007 and is being prepared in tandem with and will complement the...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 56 and 71 together. The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over. All carers in receipt of carer's allowance and carers of people in receipt of constant attendance or prescribed relative's allowance, regardless of their age, receive a free travel pass. It is also available to people under age 66 who are in...

Written Answers — Child Support: Child Support (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 and 37 together. In the context of the partnership agreement 'Sustaining Progress', the National Economic and Social Council was asked to examine the feasibility of merging the family income supplement and child dependant allowance into a second tier child income support. Such a payment would be aimed specifically at targeting child poverty by channelling...

Written Answers — Family Support Services: Family Support Services (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: My Department provides for a range of family support programmes and services, via the Family Services Project and the Family Support Agency, through a range of groups and organisations that are involved in the provision of supports and information to parents and families. Specifically, the Family Support Agency has responsibility for a number of key programmes including the Family and...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, provides for the payment of a rent supplement to assist eligible people who are unable to provide for their immediate accommodation needs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. Under the...

Written Answers — Community Welfare Service: Community Welfare Service (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme (SWA) is administered by some 700 Community Welfare Officers and 59 Superintendent Community Welfare Officers (SCWOs) and supporting clerical staff, working within the Community Welfare Service of the Health Service Executive. The transfer of the Community Welfare Service to my Department arises from the Government decision earlier this year to...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 46 and 85 together. The review of the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme was carried out as part of the Government's Expenditure Review Initiative series of Programme Evaluation reviews. Given the extensive and complex nature of the scheme, the review was undertaken in two phases. A report was published at the end of the first phase in December...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: To qualify for a jobseeker's payment a person must be available for and genuinely seeking work. Reviews of recipients' efforts to find work are carried out regularly by local offices. The onus is on the customer to show that he or she satisfies this condition by providing clear and convincing evidence that he or she has made an active search for work on an on-going basis. Statistics of people...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 29 and 272 together. Under the Pensions Act, 1990, trustees have the main responsibility for the administration of funded occupational pension schemes and for compliance with the requirements that apply to these schemes. The Pensions Board has the main statutory responsibility for monitoring compliance with the Pensions Act and is also required under the Act...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (14 Dec 2006)

Séamus Brennan: A Social Welfare Inspector was assigned to the Garda National Investigation Bureau, GNIB, in July 2004 to assist my Department and the Bureau in the investigation of social welfare fraud and breaches of the Immigration Acts, to provide information and intelligence and to promote the benefits of a multi-agency approach to immigration and employment law enforcement. A second inspector was...