Results 1,401-1,420 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: To answer the direct questions the Deputy asked, I am not sure it is accurate to say that only 1% of our pensioners get a Christmas bonus; they all do.

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: That is not the case. There are 585,000 pensioners in the country and we pay weekly payments to approximately 1.2 million. Either way, I will come back to the Deputy with a written answer on that, if that is okay. The next three things that the Deputy asked about, with the exception of the question of arrears, might be nice asks but the reason I have to say "No" is because they all...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I am not sure that there were any direct questions. I disagree with Deputy Barry when he says that an outcry regarding the original pandemic payment led to the changes we made the following week. I do not think that is true, given that I was at the table. I will bring the Deputy back to 13 March when we introduced the illness Covid payment of €350 per week and allocated some...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: On the Covid-19 money, I totally agree with the Deputy. I know that the narrative is growing and I wish to God it was not, but every single euro will be spent in our economy, whether it is by an 18 year old, a 28 year old or a 38 year old, exactly in the manner he described. It is very welcome and very needed. I do not know who is leaking to any of our newspapers but it is certainly not...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I acknowledge that the Estimates are historic, if that is the way the Deputy wants to put it, but I hope he understands that I cannot bring forward Estimates on the basis of decisions that have not yet been made. I must put on the record of the House that the presentation of the Estimates today in no way ties the hands of the next Government or restricts its ability to make any changes in...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The first thing I have to say to the Deputy, and I hope I do not sound disrespectful when I say this, is that the Estimates are not fictitious. They are based on our guesstimate as to what the outturn of all of the topics within the Vote will be. While there is the elephant in the room of the one payment, it is unfair to call them fictitious. This is what we do every year. We do not get...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I will try to talk quickly. I appreciate the Deputy's support today. It is not ideal, and I wish we had more weeks in the payment of the four-fifths rule so we could bring in what will probably be the decision next week or early the following week by the Government, but those decisions are being worked on and are imminent. They will be made very shortly. However, I can confirm that the...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I am seeking the House's approval for this Revised Estimate in order that we can continue to provide much-needed social welfare payments to our people. I am referring not just to payments related to the pandemic but also to all of our ordinary payments, namely, child benefit, pensions, carer's payments, payments to lone parents, payments to people with disabilities, as well as much more...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Domestic Violence Services (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 907, 912 to 914, inclusive, 920, 921, 924, 931, 965, 986 and 1015 together. Responsibility for the development and provision of services to support victims of domestic violence rests with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The co-ordination of the services addressing the needs of these customers is managed by The Child and Family Agency,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: There are a range of supports available from my Department for people following a bereavement. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Department may make an exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet from their weekly income. An application can be made under the ENP scheme for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 909 and 919 together. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,580 schools and organisations benefiting 250,000 children. The objective of the scheme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The Redundancy Payments Act 1967 remains in force during the emergency period, apart from one section which is temporarily suspended in certain circumstances. The provisions of Section 12 of the Act which relates to temporary lay-offs and short-time work were not considered adequate to deal with the current emergency situation. The provisions of Section 12 provide that an employee who has...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 provides that an employer must provide its employee with a written statement of the particulars of the employee’s terms of employment. It also provides that an employer must notify the employee of any changes in the particulars given in the statement. The Act provides a right of complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission where an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on most CIÉ public transport services, Luas and a range of services offered by some 80 private operators in various parts of the country. There are currently 975,508 customers in receipt of Free Travel as of the end of April 2020. The 2020 budget allocation for the Free Travel scheme is €95 million. Attached as requested is a list of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Maternity Benefit (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 916, 927, 964, 982 and 1008 together. Maternity benefit is a payment made for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women who are on maternity leave and who satisfy certain pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. Expectant mothers in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will not be adversely affected by the Covid...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: Firstly, I would like to say that my thoughts are with all workers who are dealing with job losses or facing the prospect of redundancies at this difficult time. I want to assure everybody that my Department is assisting affected workers through its Intreo service to help them in whatever way we can in terms of income supports and job-seeking over the coming weeks and months and will...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 918, 935, 942, 949 and 971 together. The COVID-19 unemployment payment was introduced as a time limited emergency measure to meet the surge in unemployment which resulted from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic and the final payment is due to be made on 9th June 2020. As we gradually move through the phases of reopening our society, we need to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: My Department introduced new measures in the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 to ensure that births could continue to be registered during the Covid-19 Pandemic. These measures removed the necessity for a qualified informant (QI) to sign the register of births and to attend before a registrar in order for a birth to be registered. The QI can use an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Rights (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The Duffy Cahill report, which was commissioned by the Government in the aftermath of the Clery’s closure, highlighted how the issues raised by that event and the subsequent legal cases are highly complex. The Duffy Cahill report was sent to the Company Law Review Group (CLRG) in 2016 for its consideration as part of the work of that group in advising the Minister for Business...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I am advised that no civil marriage ceremonies are being conducted due to the nationwide closure of civil registration offices and that this is adversely affecting couples seeking to marry. The only exceptions to this are cases involving marriages where one of the parties is at threat of death. Such marriages can be conducted with the prior approval of a superintendent registrar, on a case...