Results 1,741-1,760 of 16,746 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Household Benefits Package comprises the electricity or gas allowance, and the free television licence. The Department of Social Protection will spend approximately €308 million this year on the Household Benefits Package. The estimate provided is based on an implementation date of January 2026 with an estimated 537,000 recipients of the electricity or gas element of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. There are over one million customers with direct eligibility. The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2025 is €107.6 million. Providing an accurate projection of the cost of extending the Free Travel scheme to those in receipt of Domiciliary Care...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Matters relating to foster care and kinship care are the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality. This Government acknowledges the important role that carers, including kinship and foster carers, play and remains fully committed to supporting them. The State Pension (Contributory) system provides a range of measures to recognise caring periods...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 207 and 208 together. Guardian’s payment (contributory) and guardian's payment (non-contributory), are respectively social insurance and social assistance (means tested) payments made to a person caring for a child who satisfies the definition of an “orphan” under social welfare legislation. A child is considered an orphan if they...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Workers Register (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The cost of employing employment services support officers to social welfare recipients is as follows: a) a job coach is at Executive Officer (EO) civil service grade. The cost of the annual rate of the entry point of the EO payscale is €37,544 and b) an employment personal advisor is at Higher Executive Officer (HEO) grade. The cost of the annual rate of the entry point of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Application Forms (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department administers more than 100 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State. We are fully committed to ensuring that members of the public are fully aware of the welfare supports and services available, and to ensuring key changes are communicated to them. Public information campaigns, publications, content on gov.ie, and our online...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Paternity Leave (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Paternity Benefit is a payment for employed and self-employed people who are on Paternity Leave from work who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. It is currently paid for two weeks at €289 per week. Any decision to extend the period of Paternity Leave for employees is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Children, Disability, and Equality who has policy and legal...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: Parent's Benefit is a payment for employed and self-employed people who are on Parent's Leave from work who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. It is currently paid for nine weeks at €289 per week. Any decision to extend the period of Parent's Leave for employees is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Children, Disability, and Equality who has policy and legal...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Organisation of Working Time (Reproductive Health Related Leave) Bill 2021 has not been enacted and is currently at Third Stage in Dáil Éireann. Section 23B(1) of the Bill provides for an entitlement to "leave with pay," meaning the proposed leave would be paid by the employer rather than through a social welfare benefit. The Bill does not propose the creation of a benefit to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department has no record of any retired official being re-engaged on a consultancy basis in the past four years and to date in 2025.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is a service of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence,...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Development Projects (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department's Community Services Programme (CSP) currently supports 428 community organisations through 448 services to provide employment opportunities and the delivery of local services, through a social enterprise model, with a budget of €55.4m for 2025. The CSP Programme, which is not aligned to the minimum wage, provides a funding contribution towards the cost of Full Time...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Data (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The information requested by the Deputy in respect of the agencies under the aegis of my Department is included in the table below. Circular 25/2016 sets out the Protocol for the Provision of Information to Members of the Oireachtas by State Bodies and requires the agencies to provide a dedicated email address for Oireachtas members. The main contact number for each of the agencies is also...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I can confirm that, for the years in question, neither my Department or any bodies under its aegis have had capital projects for IT services with contracts valued in excess of €1 million that failed to reach completion.

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: I can confirm that the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht had no capital projects with contracts valued in excess of €5 million, which ran over cost in 2023. During the time period referenced by the Deputy there were four bodies under the aegis of my Department - the Charities Regulator, Western Development Commission, Water Safety Ireland, and Pobal....

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Development Projects (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Local Enhancement Programme (LEP) 2025 was launched last November with €7 million available to assist thousands of community groups across the country by providing capital and current supports. The LEP is targeted to the specific challenges facing local community groups and delivers immediate, tangible supports where they are needed most. The LEP is administered locally on...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Community Development Projects (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: On June 5th, I announced the latest round of funding of over €17 million for the delivery of 212 projects under the Community Recognition Fund covering all 31 local authority areas. That announcement brought the total number of projects that have been awarded funding under the fund to over 1,450 in just over two years. A significant number of projects approved under the Community...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: International Protection (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: To date, there have been two iterations of the Community Recognition Fund implemented by my Department with €50m being allocated to the Fund in each of 2023 and 2024. While there were some differences between the two iterations of the scheme, a key element of the process has been that all applications are made locally to the local authority who select projects for submission to...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Staff (11 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department has re-engaged one retired staff member on three separate occasions in the past four years. Details are set out below. I can confirm my Department requires consultants to declare any conflicts of interest in advance of utilising their services. This requirement is in line with the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour. Consultant Purpose ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (10 Jun 2025)

Dara Calleary: The staffing needs for all areas within my Department are continuously reviewed. This is to take account of workloads, management priorities, and the ongoing need to respond to increasing demands in a wide range of services. The Department ensures that the best use is made of all available resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on its schemes and services....