Results 14,301-14,320 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Freedom of Information (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The total number of requests under the Freedom of Information Acts received in the period from October 2014 (when the 2014 Act commenced) to 2020 is 15,744. Of those, 1,168 were refused under the Acts. The number of Freedom of Information requests refused by my Department for the years 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021 have been reviewed. This review shows that four requests have been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The two main statutory income support payments (apart from the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment) for people who have lost work and are unable to find full time employment are jobseeker's benefit, which is based on a person’s social insurance contributions paid from employment, and means tested Jobseeker's Allowance. Both of these schemes allow individuals to work up to 3 days a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Department's Back to Education Allowance provides income support for people who wish to pursue full time second or third level courses. There were approximately 6,400 students supported through the BTEA for the 2020/2021 academic year. Entitlement to BTEA was not impacted on the basis that the approved course may have been provided through blended or distance learning throughout the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy should note that matters related to the collection of taxes are outside the responsibility of my Department and should instead be pursued with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners as it is the primary collection agent for income tax and PRSI payments. Income tax and social insurance payable by a self-employed contributor are treated as one aggregate sum. For this reason, it is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Under social welfare legislation, a self-employed contributor is regarded as satisfying the contribution conditions for State pension (contributory) where the person has paid self-employment contributions in respect of at least one contribution year prior to reaching pension age (currently 66 years), and all self-employment contributions payable are considered to have been paid. Where...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 3 June 2021. It is a condition for receipt of a CA that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: A review of the decision to refuse invalidity pension to the person concerned was carried out by the Chief Appeals Officer of the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) who decided that the original Appeals Officer's decision was upheld. Correspondence in relation to this decision issued to the person concerned from the SWAO on 10 May 2021. A further review request with new...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The experience of past recessions indicates that youth employment tends to be significantly impacted by any labour market shock. This is because many employers operate a "last in-first out" approach when reducing their labour force. Moreover, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on our youth is driven by the tendency for many younger people to work in some of the sectors most...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: In common with all other social welfare schemes, claims for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment should be made in a timely manner. The quickest and easiest way to apply for the payment is online at www.MyWelfare.ie. The prescribed time for making a claim for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is in line with the provisions applying to Jobseeker's Benefit and Allowance, and claims should be made...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Both domestically and internationally, there is a significant body of empirical evidence that demonstrates the positive role labour activation measures can play in stimulating economic recovery and in increasing the employment prospects of participants. While many have been displaced from their employment by the pandemic, a significant share of these people have already returned to work,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned made an application for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment on 18/06/2021. This claim was subsequently disallowed on 30/06/2021 on the grounds that the person concerned did not lose their employment as a direct consequence of Covid 19. A disallowance letter issued advising the person concerned of this decision and further advised of the right to appeal in writing. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As set out under the Government’s Economic Recovery Plan, which was launched on June 1st 2021, a central focus of the recovery process will be on supporting people back into employment, with an overall ambition of exceeding pre-crisis employment levels by reaching 2.5 million people in work by the end of 2024. Central to achieving this ambition will be the forthcoming national...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The estimated expenditure on Disability Allowance in 2021 is €1.8 billion. The costings sought by the Deputy are contained in the table below. Increase Cost (€m) €5 42.7 €15 128.3 €20 171.1 The costs shown above include a proportionate increase for qualified...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 369 and 370 together. In addition to providing income supports the Department of Social Protection (DSP) provides a wide range of employment-related supports for both jobseekers / employees with disabilities and employers seeking to support an employee who has a disability or when employing a jobseeker (with a disability). These include: A) The Disability...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: A policy to introduce the Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to pensions calculation was adopted by Government in the National Pensions Framework in 2010, as was the decision to base the entitlements of all new pensioners on this approach from around 2020. The introduction of a TCA approach is a key feature of the Government's 'Roadmap for Pensions Reform'. In January 2018, the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Disability Allowance (DA) is a means-tested payment for people with a specified disability who are aged between 16 and 66. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a habitual residency test. DA is structured to support recipients to avail of opportunities to pursue their own employment ambitions, be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: My Department’s EmployAbility service is delivered under contract by 24 companies and the combined value of the 12-month contracts for 2021 is just over €10m. The service has an average active caseload at any one time of approximately 3,100 clients and those contracted to deliver the service employ the equivalent of 172 full time staff, of whom 127 are job coaches. While...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Registration of Births (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy will be aware that birth registrations are by law a matter for the HSE. The delivery of all civil registration services by the HSE have been impacted by the recent cyber-attack which has meant that registrations could not be undertaken for a period of four weeks. Registration services were resumed on the 11 June 2021 and my understanding is that the HSE is working to clear the...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, recruitment to An Garda Síochána is governed by legislation, in particular the Garda Síochána (Admissions and Appointments) Regulations 2013. These regulations provide that the maximum age at which a person may apply to join an Garda Síochána as a full time member is not more than 35 years. I can inform the Deputy that an expert...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Departmental Data (6 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I wish to advise the Deputy that the amount of negative interest which has arisen in respect of the operational bank accounts managed by the Department's Financial Shared Services centre (FSS) and the Immigration Service Delivery areas is set out below. It should be noted that the FSS provides financial services to a number of Government Departments and offices. Year ...