Results 14,081-14,100 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Correspondence (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a timely response to all correspondence received, be it from T.D.s and Senators or member of the public. It set out a number of detailed customer service commitments in the Department of Social Protection's Customer Charter 2020 – 2022. This Charter provides a clear commitment to acknowledging all correspondence received from members of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Offices (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: My Department, like all Government departments and agencies is required to operate within a staff ceiling figure and a commensurate administrative staffing budget. The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continuously reviewed, taking account of workloads, management priorities and the ongoing need to respond to new demands across a wide range of services. This is to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Following a review of public employment services by external consultants and in the context of expiring contracts for the provision of existing public employment services at the end of 2021, my Department is undertaking a significant procurement exercise over two phases. The first phase, already underway, focuses on the expansion of employment services in seven counties in the North-West and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: There are 14 counties that do not have a Local Employment Service. These are Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Donegal, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary and Westmeath. My Department is currently finalising a new model of employment services for some regions where there are no local employment services. This is to be followed by the roll-out of new...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Neither I nor my Department have had specific engagement with Seetec or Turas Nua in respect of expanding their current role. Both entities have existing contracts with my Department which provides for referrals of long-term unemployed clients until end-2021. The Pathways to Work 2021-2025 strategy represents Ireland’s national employment services strategy and overall framework...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Jobseeker's Benefit Self Employed scheme, introduced in November 2019 under the Social Welfare Act 2019, is a social insurance contribution based income support payment for qualifying self-employed people. The provision provides a supportive environment for entrepreneurship, including an income safety net to both employees and self-employed people. Many of the features of this benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is an emergency payment for employees and self- employed people who lost employment as a direct consequence of Covid 19. Due to the lifting of public health restrictions and the progress on the vaccine rollout the requirement for emergency measures has diminished as thousands of employees return to work each week. Under the Government’s...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in-work payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children. In order to qualify for WFP, an applicant must be engaged in full-time paid employment as an employee for not less than 38 hours per fortnight. Working Family Payment for the person concerned was due for renewal from 19 May 2021. In order to determine his...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Rent supplement continues to play a key role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme supporting 17,700 active recipients at the end of June 2021. The scheme provides short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 25 November 2020. They applied for State pension (contributory) on 17 May 2021. According to the records of my Department, they have a total of 143 paid full-rate Irish social insurance contributions. Since their contributions fall short of the requisite 520 paid full-rate contributions, they do not qualify for standard State pension...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Entitlement to Widow(er)’s or Surviving Civil Partner's Contributory Pension is based on the social insurance record of either the applicant or their deceased spouse or civil partner. In order to qualify, a person must have a minimum yearly average of 24 contributions based on either their own or their late spouse’s Irish insurance record. The person concerned has a yearly...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Farm Assist Scheme is a means-tested statutory income support payment for farmers on low incomes. Recipients of the payment retain the advantages of the Jobseeker's allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2021 Further Revised Estimate for my Department provides for expenditure of €61.7 million on the scheme. To qualify...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Strategies (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Department of Social Protection (DSP) is committed to making the information on all its websites accessible to all. The Department, for example, is committed to the adoption of Plain English and seeks to use plain English as widely as possible to make customer communications more effective and to make our services more understandable and accessible. In 2019, the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Strategies (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Department sees it as critical that it engages with people with lived experience of disability to hear their experiences and perspectives in the development of policies and programmes in order to meet their needs. In addition to its broader stakeholder meetings and customer engagement activities, the Department consults with people with disabilities, through a wide range of approaches,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: In response to the Deputy's request the following table summarises the average number of weeks to award payments for the requested schemes based on the latest operational data available (for May 2021): Scheme Av. weeks to award Illness Benefit 1 Jobseeker's Benefit 1 Invalidity Pension 6 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Citizens Information Services (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Department of Social Protection budget allocation for the Citizens' Information Board for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 are detailed in the following table:- Budget Allocation Year €000 2019 59,260 2020 61,774 2021 62,222

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Child benefit is payable to age 16 years and is subsequently payable to age 18 where the child remains in full time education. Where a child turns 16, the parent/guardian needs to get confirmation from the school that their child is still attending. Each month, the Department issues a notification to parents for all children who are due to turn 16, requesting this information. Last...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Child benefit is a monthly payment, payable to age 16 years and is subsequently payable to age 18 where the child remains in full time education. Where a child turns 16, the parent/guardian needs to get confirmation from the school that their child is still attending. Each month, the Department issues a notification to parents for all children who are due to turn 16, requesting this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Child benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child benefit is currently paid to over 637,000 families in respect of over 1.2 million children with an estimated...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Wrongful Convictions (14 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, this case relates to the murder of a member of An Garda Síochána over 75 years ago. The individual in question was tried and convicted of this murder by the Special Criminal Court, and subsequently executed on 1 December 1944. While I of course do not support capital punishment in any form, I am not aware of any matter of public interest that would...