Results 16,781-16,800 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Town and Village Renewal Scheme (10 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The project referred to by the Deputy was approved for funding under the 2018 Town and Village Renewal Scheme.  The scheme is administered by the Local Authorities on behalf of my Department. I can confirm that payment claims for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the project have been received by my Department.  The Phase 1 payment has been made to Wexford Co. Council, while the...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I will continue to review it. It was only extended for one year and the service it provides will go out to tender at some stage during 2021. As I said, I will continue to look at it. We all want the same thing. We want good value for money and I am told the JobPath service, at an average cost of €800, is much cheaper than some of the other services we provide because they are done...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputies for their co-operation in passing the Social Welfare Bill 2020. This is my first Social Welfare Bill and it has been a pleasure to work with Deputies and I thank them for that.

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Before I joined this Department, I had the same concerns some of the Deputies have raised. However, I have gone into this matter in great detail. JobPath is providing a service. It is only one part of the jigsaw. I have been in touch with local employment service providers and want to increase the local employment service's capacity by 50% from 20,000 people to 30,000. I also want to...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I am happy to engage with the Deputy but putting a request for reports into legislation is probably not the best way to do things. I give the Deputy a commitment that I will engage on this matter and we will work with St. Vincent de Paul to look at it. The fuel allowance, as it stands, is to keep people out of poverty, not to pay the full cost of their fuel, which is obviously a problem....

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: A comprehensive policy review of carer's allowance, including the means test, was prepared by my Department and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 28 August 2019. I am happy to provide a copy of that. In addition, on 15 August last year, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published a spending review of carer support. Among its key findings was that the carer's...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The amendment asks for the provision of a number of reports and I will go through each one separately. The first point I will make is that my Department recently did two reports. One was on the impact of carbon tax on low-income families and the other was on the qualifying conditions for fuel allowance with specific reference to jobseeker's allowance and supplementary welfare allowance....

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I am not clear what the Deputy is asking. Many young people have obviously been impacted by the pandemic and have accessed the PUP. We will have an intensive programme to help them to get back to work, whether through upskilling, reskilling, job placement programmes or whatever. We want to try to get those people back to work as quickly as we can. I made the point that jobseekers under...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I see now from where the Deputy is coming. As I said, the Government has set up the Commission on Pensions and has asked it to look at all of the matters mentioned in the amendment. The commission is doing its work and I do not think there would be any point in us starting to prepare a report. We will provide the commission with all of the supports that it needs to deliberate and look at...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Four. Okay. It is important to bear in mind that the threshold for a four-child family is still €834. That is significantly higher than the threshold for a one-child household, for example, which is €531. Therefore, we are trying to help those where the threshold kicks in earlier. I take on board the Deputy's point. The Roadmap for Social Inclusion commits to reviewing the...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I did say I will review it this year and I made that very clear. The qualified child payment includes all children. It is not true that the budget does nothing for the children in question. They will all get the qualified child payment. I remind the Deputies that I have not forgotten the children. They will get support through the qualified child payment but I will consider the issue of...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I fully understand and recognise the significant role that carers play in our society. There is no doubt about that. The role of social protection is to provide a basic income. I have asked and I want to engage with the Oireachtas committee because we all need to sit down and have a look at this. The Department of Health also has a role to play. I provide a basic income but we need to...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: First, the increase in the working family payment income threshold for a family with one, two, or three children in recent budgets is a targeted measure benefiting the majority of low-income families who are in receipt of the working family payment. As of June, this cohort represented 86% of all working family payment recipient households. The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025 contains...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I am happy to accept amendment No. 3 from Deputies Joan Collins and Kerrane. We do not want self-employed people to turn down work for fear that it might impact on their pandemic unemployment payment. From my engagement with musicians and artists, they have said that €960 over eight weeks would give them a bit more flexibility when it comes to taking up occasional gigs. On that...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Assuming that the Deputies intended the amendment to have the effect of paying the grant in January instead of June, I would like to point out that the current date is well established. It is known to recipients of carers' payments and other new carers who wish to apply for the grant. It would not be possible, from an administrative point of view, to implement such a change by January 2021....

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I am happy to respond. How much time do I have?

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I will try to answer as many questions, and there were many, as best I can and if I have not answered on some issues I may be able to address them on Committee Stage. I thank the Deputies for their contributions on the Bill. In response to Deputy Mattie McGrath, between last week and this week we will pay out €500 million in payments. Like the Deputy, I have been encouraging...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." As Deputies will be aware, the purpose of the Bill is to give legislative effect to the changes announced on budget day. The Estimates for the Department of Social Protection in 2021 is €25.1 billion. This is more than €4 billion larger than the Department's budget day allocation for 2020. Much of that additional spending...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 to 135, inclusive, together. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,557 schools and organisations benefitting 227,000 children. The objective of the programme 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (9 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 to 144, inclusive, together. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,557 schools and organisations benefitting 227,000 children.  The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage...