Results 14,361-14,380 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The pandemic unemployment payment or PUP was an emergency measure introduced in the exceptional circumstances of Covid-19 to help cushion the financial impact on people temporarily laid-off work as a direct result of public health measures mandated by the Government. It has been an important support for hundreds of thousands of workers and their families through Covid-19. To date, over...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The programme for Government includes a commitment to using the research into the cost of disability to individuals and families to properly inform the direction of future policy. My Department commissioned Indecon International Economic Consultants to carry out research into the cost of disability in Ireland. The report has now been received...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. As he said, this is a major piece of work. Indecon believes it is the largest survey of people living with disabilities ever undertaken in Ireland. I will be engaging with the disability representative groups as part of my Department's pre-budget forum on 14 July. As I outlined in my initial reply, we took several positive steps in last year's budget. Of course we...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy knows, when it comes to the budget there are many competing priorities. It is a bit early to have a discussion on it. We want to do more this year but we will consider everything. We have the benefit of the report. We will be talking to the other Departments and bring the report to the Government. I will be consulting on 14 July. I am holding a pre-budget forum and I will...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I want to allay those concerns. The focus here is on the client, the unemployed person. That is the number one priority. When a person is referred to the local employment service, it is done through the Intreo services. They will decide the best pathway. It is all about client-focused services and delivering the best outcome for the client. Under this contract, the local employment...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The first request for tender is a means of expanding the services. We are not reducing any services. However, there will be learnings from the first request for tender process. If tweaks or changes are needed for the second request for tender, I will be happy to make those. I am also happy to engage with the Deputies on the matter. At the end of the day, I want to ensure we provide...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As she will be aware, most of the contracts for local employment services have been in place since the 1990s and have simply been rolled over on an annual basis. Good governance and public procurement rules require that my Department does not continue the existing process of simply rolling over contracts for employment services. As a first step in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I assure the Deputy that there is no privatisation happening and it is wrong to say there is. The vast majority of marks in the request for tender, that is, more than 75% of them, are based on the quality of the service and the experience and track record of the tenderers in providing supports to those furthest from the labour market. I have spoken to several local providers that have seen...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: There has been extensive consultation with every provider across the country. We are now expanding this service. This is the first phase of that. We went through it with the providers before the request for tender went out. There has been a lot of explanation and I do not understand why the providers will have to employ a person to put in the requests for tender because they should have a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Employment Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. Up to now, all contracts for local employment services were issued for a single 12-month period and rolled over on an annual basis. Many of these contracts have been in place with very little change since the early 1990s. Good governance and national and EU procurement rules require that my Department does not continue this practice of simply rolling over contracts for...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment, or PUP, was introduced as an emergency measure to support people who lost their employment due to Government mandatedpublic health restrictions. To date expenditure on the scheme is over €8 billion and just under 900,000 people have benefitted from the scheme. This demonstrates the Government's absolute commitment to support workers and businesses...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment is a statutory scheme for employees and the self-employed who were in employment on or after13th March 2020 and who lost employment as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Entitlement to the scheme was based on the loss of an actual employment rather than potential or prospective but unrealised employment. It would be impossible in practical terms to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Bord na Móna (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment or PUP is a statutory support which is available to people who have lost their employment as a result of Government mandatedrestrictions arising from Covid-19. It is not intended as a permanent or standing scheme to respond to the normal operation of the labour market. While every loss of employment hits the workers affected very hard and we would...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Offices (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Welfare Service in my department delivers the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is the safety net within the overall social welfare system. This scheme provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. While seeking to comply with public health restrictions, Intreo offices...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment or PUP has been an important support for hundreds of thousands of workers and their families through COVID19. To date expenditure on the scheme is over €8 billion with payments made to just under 900,000 people. UP was introduced as an exceptional measure in response to the global pandemic. As thousands of jobs are resuming each week with the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government commits the Government to use the research into the cost of disability to individuals and families to properly inform the direction of future policy. My Department commissioned Indecon International Consultants to carry out research into the cost of disability in Ireland. The report has just been received and my Department is considering it in detail. This...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment, or PUP, has been an important support for hundreds of thousands of workers and their families through COVID19, demonstrating Government's commitment to workers. In total over €8 billion has been paid out on PUP. A total of approximately 870,000 workers have received at least one PUP payment. The Government has also supported employers who have been...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is available to employees and self-employed people who have lost their employment and the income from that employment due to the pandemic, and who satisfy the other qualifying conditions of the scheme. As restrictions lift and businesses re-open, employers are contacting their employees to return to work. As would be expected, the vast majority of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: My Department contracts for the provision of Local Employment Services (LES) and Job Clubs to provide services and facilities to support unemployed people to enter or return to work. In 2019 the total contracted value for Local Employment Services was €19.6m and the same value again in 2020. The total contracted value for Job Clubs was €5.3m in 2019 and €5m in 2020....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment (1 Jul 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124, 138, 147 and 171 together. 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...