Results 161-180 of 14,473 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Funding under the School Meals Programme can be provided for breakfast, snack, cold lunch, dinner, hot...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Inquiries (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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 appeal for this customer was received and registered on the 31st of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Inquiries (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to medical assessment, a means test, and habitual residency conditions. The Department periodically reviews claims in payment to ensure that there is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Budgets (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending in 2025 is expected to amount to over €1.9 billion...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Public Services Card (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The SAFE registration process is the process through which a person satisfies the Minister for Social Protection as to their identity. A customer's identity is verified by attending an in-person appointment at their local Public Services Card or Intreo SAFE Registration Centre. At their appointment the person provides evidence of their identity and address; their photo is taken and their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The requested figures for Disability Allowance are shown below. The figures for 'Average Weeks to Award' is the average time between an claim being registered and the claim being awarded for successful claims. Note that the figures for quarter 1 2025 correspond to 1 January - 31 March 2025. - Claims Registered Awarded Rejected Average Weeks to Award...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Care Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is very aware of the key role that family carers play in Irish society and the challenges they face and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. The Programme for Government has set out a specific timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget with a view to phasing out the means test during the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: There is a nutritional standard in place for the School Meals Programme since it’s inception. A specific standard was set for School Meals under the Nutritional Standards for School Meals and Nutritional Standards for Hot School Meals. A technical Nutrition Sub Group comprised of Dietitians from the following organisations was involved in developing these standards:The Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Financial Services (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Government is committed to supporting families in caring for their children and a wide range of supports are available across Departments to ease the financial pressure on families. My Department provides a number of such key supports. Child Benefit is a monthly payment to families with children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children until...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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. As the Deputy is aware, there are currently legal proceedings before the Courts in relation to this subject. Therefore, it would...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The State Pension (Contributory) (SPC) is funded from the Social Insurance Fund through the contributions paid by workers. The rate of payment reflects the number of social insurance contributions paid over a working life. Eligibility for the SPC is based on a number of criteria:Being aged 66 or over.Having entered the Social Insurance system at least 10 years before you intend to drawdown...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme, administered by my department through the local Community Welfare Services (CWS) was activated on Thursday 23 January 2025 to assist householders affected across the country by Storm Éowyn. The Humanitarian Assistance Scheme (HAS) is operated in 3 stages. Stage 1 of the scheme is to address hardship in the immediate aftermath of a severe weather event...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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. Detailed information on the number of claims awarded, rejected and withdrawn across the Department is currently being finalised...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office 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 Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Impact Assessment (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I propose to take Questions Nos. 283 and 284 together. This Government recognises the additional costs associated with having a disability and is committed to improving outcomes for disabled people. That is why we have priortised the development of a new National Disability Strategy; a cross-governmental strategy that will have a focus on improving access to services and bringing down...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Application Forms (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: I wish to advise that the Jobseekers application for the person concerned has been received and has been referred to the Social Welfare Inspector for examination. The Social Welfare Inspector has advised that they are progressing the examination of this matter and as soon as a completed report is received the Deciding Office will progress the application. If the Person concerned is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The marriage bar was a legal requirement for women in the Irish civil service and some areas of the public service to retire from employment after marriage. While the legislation applied only to the civil and public sector, a similar policy was adopted by other sectors, such as the banking sector. The marriage bar for civil servants was removed from legislation in 1973. Civil and public...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Reviews (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: Given the nature of the details supplied I would, in the first instance, direct the person to their local enterprise office, which provides advice and support to people starting or growing a business. The network of offices, under the remit of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, is in place to provide the type of advice sought. My Department operates a number of schemes...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The LEADER Programme supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups (LAGs) across rural Ireland, who have responsibility for the selection and approval of projects. The LEADER programme is a multi-annual programme, with the current programme...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Programmes (1 May 2025)

Dara Calleary: The current LEADER Programme runs to 2027 and is now up and running across the country. It supports a broad range of enterprises and community groups to develop projects which improve the quality of life and economic activity in rural areas. It is delivered through Local Action Groups (LAGs) across rural Ireland which facilitates a community-led, bottom-up approach to rural development. ...