Results 17,021-17,040 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is currently a payment of €24.50 per week for 28 weeks from October to April, at an estimated cost of €261.35 million in 2020. The purpose of the payment is to assist qualifying households with their winter heating costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards their heating costs and is not intended to meet these costs in full. Only one allowance...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Inquiries (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. The information required by the Deputy in relation to average waiting times for schemes that are subject to appeal is set out in the attached table below. The time taken...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The 2020 Further Revised Estimates voted on by the Dáil on Wednesday, 18th November 2020 provides for an allocation of €5,094.4 million for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), €1,740 million for the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and €74 million for Covid-19 Illness Benefit. Based on trends up to end of November 2020, the budget for the Department will be...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. There are no significant backlogs in the Department's scheme areas at present. All scheme areas are mainly up to date on claim processing and any backlogs are currently being worked down. I can assure the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The State Pension (Contributory) is a PRSI-based pension, financed by contributions made by current workers and their employers, and paid to pensioners, at a rate based upon their PRSI record when working. A person is required to have a minimum of 520 paid reckonable PRSI contributions in order to qualify for the State Pension (Contributory). As the actuarial value of the State Pension is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Decisions in relation to entitlement to social welfare payments are bound by the relevant provisions of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 (as amended) and associated regulations. Every claimant is entitled to have their claim considered in accordance with the principles of natural and constitutional justice and in the context of determinations of entitlement under social welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all of its customers. This includes ensuring that reviews of decisions on social welfare claims are processed as soon as possible, and that the outcomes are notified promptly. At all times, every effort is made to complete the reviews as efficiently as possible. Decisions are not delayed unnecessarily once all the information...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the attached tabular statement. Tabular statement attached/ Number of recipients of state pension non-contributory and state pension contributory at the end of December in each of the years 2015 - 2019 and at the end of October 2020 State Pension Non-Contributory State Pension Non-Contributory ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Working Family Payment (WFP) , is an in-work supplement, which provides additional income support to employees on low earnings with child dependents. WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with children, and to offer a financial incentive to pursue employment. The number of persons (families) in receipt of WFP, in each of the past five years to date is as follows: ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Christmas Bonus will be paid in the week beginning 7th December to social welfare recipients such as pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents in recognition of their long-term financial dependence on social welfare payments for all, or most, of their income. In recognition of the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on employment levels and the sudden financial...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy will be aware of how critically important it is to ensure that the State Pension system provides adequate support to pensioners and that it continues to do that over the long term. The Pensions Commission was established to examine sustainability and eligibility issues with the State Pension and the Social Insurance Fund, in fulfilment of our Programme for Government commitment....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Benefit (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Jobseeker's Benefit is a weekly payment to people who have lost their employment and who satisfy the scheme's statutory conditions including the requirement to have paid sufficient social insurance contributions. This benefit is paid for 9 months (234 days) to people who have paid 260 or more PRSI contributions and for 6 months (156 days) to people who have paid less than 260 contributions....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: A person who loses their job as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic can apply for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), which is not means tested. For some people, depending on their family circumstances, it may be more beneficial to claim a jobseeker's payment, if they have an underlying entitlement to that payment. For example, for a person with a spouse or civil partner and children,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Back to Work Enterprise Allowance Scheme (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) scheme offers support for people who are long-term unemployed and who are interested in self-employment as a route to entering the labour market. The scheme plays a vital role in supporting the development of new enterprises for unemployed individuals. This allowance is payable to self-employed individuals for up to a 24 month period from the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Mortgage Interest Supplement Scheme (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The original purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme (MIS) was to provide short-term support to eligible people who were unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which was their sole place of residence, due to temporary unemployment or loss of earnings. The mortgage interest supplement scheme was discontinued for new entrants from 1 January...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Contracts (1 Dec 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The table here provides the information requested by the Deputy; a schedule of all consultancy firms, accountancy firms, legal firms, project management firms and IT firms my Department has engaged to carry out work its behalf in 2018, 2019 and to date in 2020; no disputes over costs ensued. There have been no legal challenges in relation to the contracts and no mediation applied. Schedule ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (26 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Enterprise Support Grant (ESG) provides funding following the re-opening of an applicant’s business after the closure of their Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or Jobseekers claim. This grant provides up to €1,000 for expenditure associated with re-starting a business following the closure of a PUP or a Jobseeker’s claim. The pandemic has created...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Education Schemes (26 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I understand that the Deputy’s question relates to grants, funding or compensation relating to a person's education and, accordingly, should be directed to my colleague, the Minister for Education.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (26 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Department has clarified that a person who has had a reduction in their days of employment, may claim casual jobseeker or Short-Time Work Support payments for days of unemployment, where their employer is claiming the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme for days of employment. The normal scheme rules and application processes apply, including completion of the relevant forms by the employer...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (26 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. It is important to note that entitlement to these supports is not contingent on the nature of the illness/disability but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work. In March of this year, under the...