Results 17,241-17,260 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Town and Village Renewal Scheme (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government includes a commitment for an expanded Town and Village Renewal Scheme to bring vacant and derelict buildings back into use and promote residential occupancy. The focus of the initiative is on renovating or repurposing properties for residential use rather than commercial use. In October 2018, my Department launched a Town Centre Living Initiative to explore...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Expenditure (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department currently occupies office space at two locations - Trinity Point, Dublin 2, and Government Buildings, Ballina, Co. Mayo. The offices occupied in Ballina are in the ownership of the Office of Public Works (OPW), while the lease arrangements in relation to Trinity Point are managed on our behalf by the OPW. Neither my Department, nor any of the agencies under its aegis,...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Farmers Markets (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Funding may be available through the LEADER Programme for the type of project referred to by the Deputy. LEADER is a multi-annual programme covering the period 2014-2020 which is delivered through Local Action Groups (LAGs) in 28 LEADER sub-regional areas around the country. To date, over 3,500 projects have been approved under the current programme, for funding of almost €141...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Properties (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department currently occupies office space at two locations - Trinity Point, Dublin 2, and Government Buildings, Ballina, Co. Mayo. The offices occupied in Ballina are in the ownership of the Office of Public Works (OPW), while the lease arrangements in relation to Trinity Point are managed on our behalf by the OPW. Neither my Department, nor any of the agencies under its aegis,...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Go raibh maith agat, Chairman, and thank you and the members for the invitation to be with you today. The Revised Estimates for Public Services 2020 were published in December last year. The projected expenditure for the Department in the original estimate was €21.2 billion. Just over €11 billion of this was voted expenditure, paid through the Exchequer, to provide in the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Yes.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Normally, an applicant has to have been on these payments long term. He or she would normally have to have been on jobseeker's allowance before qualifying for the Christmas bonus. Because of the situation we find ourselves in this year with Covid-19, we have decided that we will pay the Christmas bonus for anybody who has been on the PUP or whatever payment for four months. It is not just...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Chairman. There were a good few questions. I will try to go through them. I will start with the Chairman's. I agree that it is better that employers take up what was the temporary wage subsidy scheme, now the employment wage subsidy scheme. The purpose of these schemes is to maintain the link between employers and their employees. Nobody thought we would be under...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: We will look at it again in January to see what the situation is like. That was the plan when we changed it last August but, as we know, times change. I take the Deputy's point and we will certainly look at that. If we were going to-----

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Yes, it would be just a one-year course and we would see how it goes. We were worried that the PUP would stop and they would then have no payment and still be in their college without any income. Deputy Kerrane mentioned the way the PUP was paid. The question of tax is a matter for Revenue. If somebody earns over a certain amount regardless of its source, it is taxable. It is an issue...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I am not trying to avoid the Deputy's question but as I understand it, the Department of Finance will have it in the finance Bill and a decision will be made there because it is the Department of Finance that makes the final decision. I was asked what would happen if a person's PUP was based on January or February income and then changed from March to September. The answer is that the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I take the Deputy's point. In terms of the basis on which people were able to get the moratorium on their loan repayments with the banks, the banks announced that they could have a moratorium of six months. For those who wanted to engage directly with the banks, the blanket moratorium stopped and therefore it was up to people who could not pay their mortgages to engage directly with the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I thank everyone for the questions, and I will do my best to answer them. On the enterprise support grant and people over the age of 66, the pandemic unemployment payment is payable to people between the ages of 18 and 66. This is consistent with other social protection schemes payable to people of working age who have lost their employment. People aged 66 years and over are provided for...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: To be clear, I will not be looking at the pandemic unemployment payment for those aged over 66. I want to be clear because I do not want any confusion. It is not planned to look at the pandemic unemployment payment for those aged over 66 because it was set down for those aged between 18 and 66. They are the people who qualify for the pandemic unemployment payment. I know what the Deputies...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I suppose we have to go back to what social protection is about. It is providing a basic income to people and therein lies the problem because they probably have other income. We can go through this again and I am happy to hear and look at the suggestions of the committee members. I know what they are saying and I have seen it myself. To go back to JobPath, there are 201,000 people on the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: To date, more than 64,000 jobseekers have commenced employment during their engagement period with JobPath.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: In excess of 22,000 of them were still employed after 12 months. These figures do not take account of the fact that many participants are still with the service and will get a job in the months ahead.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Further Revised) (11 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: There is a huge opportunity now to have more co-working spaces for public servants across the country. I am developing a new regional development plan and, as far as I am concerned, this issue will be at its centre because it is the right thing to do. People are working from home and some people would gladly go into a co-working space in a local town or village rather than stay at home all...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (10 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I will stick to the issue at hand. I reassure the Deputy that my Department is doing everything in its power to process payments as quickly as possible. The vast majority of claims have been put into payment without any issue. This week, for example, PUP payments have issued to more than 342,000 people. I am advised that there was an issue with about 1% of the total claims. When that...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (10 Nov 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Carthy, my constituency colleague, for raising this issue. The pandemic unemployment payment has been a vital support for hundreds of thousands of workers and their families throughout Covid-19. Since March, my Department has issued over 12 million payments to over 800,000 people. A total of €4 billion has been paid out under the scheme to date. I wish to...