Results 1,701-1,720 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Sports Capital Programme: Sports Capital Programme (8 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: I presume that the Deputy is referring to the Sports Capital Programme. Under the Sports Capital Programme, which is administered by my Department, funding is allocated to sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. Since 1998 the Programme has allocated over €675 million to over 6,700 projects. This investment has transformed the...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (8 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: The establishment dates of the bodies under the aegis of my Department are set out hereunder. The general functions, roles and locations of these bodies are set out in my Department's Statement of Strategy 2008-2010 which is available on my Department's website and in the relevant websites of the bodies, and their budgets for 2007 are set out in the Estimates for my Department which are...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (8 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: The cost of implementing the pay roll system within the bodies under the aegis of my Department is a matter for the agencies themselves. The Department outsourced its payroll function as part of the overall outsourcing of our Financial Management System to the Financial Shared Service Centre of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 2005. There is no cost to my Department...

Written Answers — Sports Capital Programme: Sports Capital Programme (8 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: Under the Sports Capital Programme, which is administered by my Department, funding is allocated to sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. The position is that under the Sports Capital Programme, grantees in receipt of funding over a specified level must enter into a Deed of Covenant and Charge in order to protect the Minister's...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (8 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: Excluding the cost of accommodation, the total cost incurred to date for the decentralisation of the Department to Killarney, Co Kerry currently stands at €640,000. This expenditure is in respect of office machinery, office and premises overheads, postal and telecommunications services and travel and subsistence. The Office of Public Works is responsible for costs relating to both the...

Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy should stop. Her comment was not nice and was uncalled for.

Order of Business (8 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is out of order.

Written Answers — Live Register: Live Register (1 May 2008)

Martin Cullen: Live register data are collated by my Department by reference to the geographical area for which each local office is operationally responsible. That information is provided to the Central Statistics Office who break the information on a geographical basis by region, province, county and social welfare local office area and publish it on a monthly basis. A breakdown by postal code is not...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: A child benefit claim was received from the person concerned in February 2007 in respect of his children residing with their mother in Bulgaria. Additional information was requested and obtained from the person concerned in April 2007 and again in February 2008. Following receipt of the latest information, correspondence issued to the Bulgarian authorities in April concerning any...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The person concerned applied for a State Pension (Contributory) on 12th January 1996, a period of 20 months after his 66th birthday, which was on 11th May 1994. In accordance with legislation in place at the time, his State Pension (Contributory) was backdated by 6 months to 14th July 1995. Subsequently, revised guidelines were issued relating to late applications, and in 1998 a review of all...

Written Answers — Advocacy Services: Advocacy Services (30 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Citizens Information Board began a process in 2004 of engaging the community and voluntary sector in the provision of advocacy services to people with disabilities and also produced advocacy guidelines to inform and guide organisations in the development of advocacy services. Funding of €1million was allocated to the Citizens Information Board in 2005 to enable the introduction of the...

Order of Business (30 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Taoiseach is well able to look after himself.

Written Answers — Social and Affordable Housing: Social and Affordable Housing (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The position of people on low income who are working and who are renting their home in the private rented residential sector is a significant issue for Government. The Government's overall objective is to enable every household to have available an affordable dwelling of good quality, suited to its needs, in a good environment and as far as possible at the tenure of its choice. To this end,...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The state pension (transition) was introduced in 1970 when it was known as the retirement pension. It was designed to bridge the gap between the standard social welfare pension age, which at that time was 70 years of age, and retirement at age 65. The social welfare pension age was reduced over a period of years until it reached 66 years of age. A key qualifying condition for the scheme is...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: Prior to this month, child benefit continued to be paid to the birth parent where the child was placed in foster care, regardless of the duration of foster care and even where the level of support provided by the birth parent was only marginal or occasional in nature. However, as the purpose of child benefit is to assist toward the ongoing cost of child rearing, I made provision for payment...

Written Answers — Data Protection: Data Protection (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: This Department administers some fifty schemes and makes payments to one million people each week. Because of the nature, scale and diversity of its work, the Department holds detailed information about its customers and takes its responsibilities to safeguard this data extremely seriously. All electronic data is stored in the Department's primary computer site. The site itself has rigorous...

Written Answers — Waste Management: Waste Management (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The setting of waste management charges and the introduction of waivers in respect of waste charges is, as has been stated in this House on many occasions, a matter for each local authority. Local authorities operate under the auspices of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The introduction of a national social welfare scheme to address the issue would not be...

Written Answers — Customer Services: Customer Services (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: My Department is committed to delivering a high quality customer service for customers, including those who prefer to contact us by telephone. Calls are dealt with in our local office network as well as in our headquarter offices. In recent years investments in telephone technology, along with continued emphasis on staff training, has facilitated the introduction of enhanced LoCall...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The majority of Child Benefit awards are processed either automatically or in a partially automated fashion for children born in Ireland once their birth details are registered with the General Registrar's Office. As a result there is no backlog in these claims (for children born in Ireland) and parents are in general contacted by the Child Benefit office within two days of the registration...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, provides for the payment of a rent supplement to assist eligible people who are unable to provide for their immediate accommodation needs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. Rent...