Results 14,981-15,000 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

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

Heather Humphreys: The main income supports for carers provided by my Department include Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance, and the Carer's Support Grant.  At the end of April, there were 89,549 people in receipt of Carer's Allowance and the estimated expenditure on Carer's Allowance in 2021 is approximately €953 million.  In total, over 135,000 carers benefit...

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

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 449 and 450 together. The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme.  These include road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann, as well as Luas and services provided by over 80 private...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered with that office on 3 December 2020.  The appeal was referred to an Appeals Officer on 9 February 2021 and the Appeals Officer's summary decision was issued to the person concerned on 19 April 2021.   An Appeals Officer's decision is generally conclusive. However, an...

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

Heather Humphreys: Working Family Payment (WFP) is an in work, income tested payment which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with children.  WFP applications are processed based on an applicant's circumstances, including employment earnings and income status that apply at the time of application. An application for WFP was received from the person concerned on 06 May...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Data Protection (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The majority of personal data breaches in my Department were in the following three categories: - Delivery of correspondence to an incorrect address or to the customer's previous address; - Accidentally including a document or an item of personal data of a customer in correspondence with another customer. - Email errors such as auto population to an unintended address, or inadvertently...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Local Authorities (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Rent supplement continues to play a key role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme currently supporting 19,570 recipients (end April 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: Island Communities (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Data requested by the Deputy on the costs and recipients, where available, is set out in Table 1 below. The islands which are enumerated under each county are set out in Table 2.  The increase was paid at a rate of €12.70 per week for the period 2012-2020 inclusive, which has been used to approximate the expenditure. The increase is attached to the claim of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Island Communities (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Increase for Living on a Specified Island - or Island Allowance - is an increase in the weekly rate of certain social welfare payments for recipients who are aged 66 or over and are ordinarily resident on an island off the coast of Ireland. It is also paid to recipients aged under 66 on certain schemes. The objective of the scheme is to compensate...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The EmployAbility service is based on the ethos that participation in employment can be achieved by people with a disability (PwD) when they are able to avail of individualised supports that are based on their choices and preferences. It should be noted that, due to public health restrictions, referrals to all contracted public employment services...

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

Heather Humphreys: My Department recognises the additional difficulties people with disabilities experience in securing and maintaining paid employment. To this end, my Department has contracts for the provision of the Employability services to help address these difficulties. These services are currently delivered under contract by 24 different organisations located around the country. The...

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

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested payment, made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that they require that level of care.  An increased payment can be made where full-time care is being provided to two people. I can confirm that my department received two applications for CA...

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

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered with that office on 3 February 2021.  It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought.  These papers were received on 31 March 2021.  The appeal...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Budgets (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Below in tabular format are the unspent amounts that my Department has returned to the Exchequer for the years 2017 to 2020 inclusive. Year Surplus € Deferred Surrender € Surplus to be surrendered € 2017 21,019,255 (1,000,000) 20,019,255 2018 39,887,039 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Protected Disclosures (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The number of protected disclosure submissions made to DSP, as requested by the Deputy, is set out in the table beneath. Year Received Comments  2016 1 2017 10 2018 16 2019 9 2020 1 ...

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

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 465 and 466 together. Over the course of 2021, 6,840 people have been supported by the Short Time Work Support Scheme. The additional information requested by the Deputy is set out in the tables below. Table 1: Short Time Work Support by Month and by County Table 2: Short Time work Support by Month and by Sector of last known employer

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

Heather Humphreys: Customers are entitled to apply for a Jobseekers' payment while on reduced hours.  Entitlement to a Jobseekers' payment is subject to the normal qualifying conditions as set out in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, including Section 62.  There are 3 categories of claimant who may qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit while partially employed - short-time workers, part-time...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will appreciate, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 as amended, the Garda Commissioner has responsibility for management of An Garda Síochána and for the allocation and efficient use of Garda resources. This includes responsibility for personnel matters and the distribution of personnel across the various Garda Divisions.  As Minister, I have no...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Data Protection (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I wish to advise the Deputy that the majority (approx. 75%) of data breaches recorded by my Department since 2018 related to incidents where, due to human error, data was provided to incorrect recipients. Other data breaches include the misfiling of documentation internally, and the loss of encrypted devices such as mobile phones.  The Deputy is advised that...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I have requested a report on the information sought by the Deputy from the Garda authorities, however this was not available in time. I will write to the Deputy once the information is to hand.

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: An Garda Síochána (1 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, all vehicle tenders and contracts for Garda vehicles are handled through the Office of Government Procurement (OGP)  in consultation with An Garda Síochána. As Minister, I have no direct role in this matter. I am informed by the Garda authorities that the OGP has entered into a contract, with effect from 20 November 2020, for the supply of...