Results 18,041-18,060 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Topical Issue Debate: Employment Rights (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In which case we will do it but if is costs hundreds of millions of euro, it might be a problem.

Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The 2015 Defence White Paper committed the Government to introducing a new employment support scheme with the direct involvement of the Defence Forces. The Department of Defence has responsibility for the scheme. Initial discussions with officials from my Department focused on clarifying the objectives of the scheme. The scheme is targeted at young jobseekers experiencing barriers to...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I owe the Deputy an apology in answering this question because it is not a programme that I am personally familiar with. It arose out of the 2015 Defence White Paper, which would have been a White Paper produced by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and obviously, the pilot would have occurred and been developed under my predecessor in this Department, the former Minister, Deputy...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As I mentioned, it arises from the White Paper on Defence in 2015. I understand it is based on a programme from New Zealand. It is entirely voluntary. There are no penalties imposed for non-participation in the scheme. It is a ten-week training programme. Essentially, it involves five weeks of training delivered by the Defence Forces and then five weeks of education and training, which...

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for her very kind words. It has been a pleasure to visit her constituency on a number of occasions in the past few weeks.

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I was in Bailieborough recently and I was in Cootehill last night recently to meet some-----

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Blanchardstown is not at all far from Cavan.

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Indeed, which will not be forgotten. If I have the opportunity to lead in the future-----

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: -----I will not forget the level of support that I appear to be receiving in the Border counties. To acknowledge the Deputy's question, we want to avoid a situation where people change from one scheme to another. The Deputy can understand all sorts of reasons why that is impractical, whether it is from Tús to community employment, CE, or CE to JobPath, or whatever else. It is not...

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: In the first instance, people should contact their local Intreo centre. If it has not worked out for some reason or if there was a dispute, the Deputy may raise it directly with my private secretary and my office will certainly look into it.

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Entitlement levels to the contributory State pension are calculated by means of a yearly average calculation, where the total contributions paid or credited are divided by the number of years of the working life. Payment rates are banded to reflect a person’s contribution history. Volunteer development workers who work abroad in developing countries are exempt from paying social...

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The scheme was introduced in 1994 by the then Minister, former Deputy Michael Woods, and was a very progressive measure at the time. I imagine when it was introduced that the decision not to make it retrospective was due to the enormous cost that would arise from doing so. Using €290 million from the social protection budget in any given year would be very difficult. A consequent...

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I take the Deputy's point and understand the arguments he is making. I have a degree of sympathy for them. The difficulty with any programme the Government brings in is that, if it is made retrospective, the cost of doing implementing it can make it prohibitive, and decisions made in 1994 and 1983 were not to make them retrospective, precisely for that reason. The cost would have been so...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: There are no plans to change the system of assessment for eligibility for either disability or carer’s allowance. Helping and supporting people with disabilities to access employment and so enhance their independence is one of the most important and challenging policy issues we face. The recently published Make Work Pay report produced by an interdepartmental group included a number...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will know and appreciate, those assessments are not done by me or even my officials. They are done by the medical assessors who work on behalf of the Department to assess the extent to which somebody has a disability or is in need of full-time care. I acknowledge where the Deputy is coming from and his point is very valid. The tradition in Ireland has been to assess a...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: It is a cross-departmental report so it involves my Department, the Minister of State for disability issues and the Minister for Health. There are four big ones in my Department. We have already done the one on the free travel pass. That has already been implemented and provides for five years. The one on the requirement that the work be rehabilitative has effectively been done on an...

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 35 and 40 together. The aim of the JobPath service, which is provided for jobseekers only, is to assist them in finding sustainable full-time paid employment. Community employment schemes are different. They provide part-time work experience and training opportunities in local communities as a stepping stone back to employment for people on a range of...

Other Questions: Treatment Benefit Scheme Eligibility (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have the invalidity pension figure off the top of my head, but if I remember correctly, in the budget negotiations, we were estimating that it could cost as much as €80 million in a full year. I do not believe that is going to be the case but I respect the fact that my officials tend to be cautious when it comes to these calculations. Often, they perhaps estimate that things...

Other Questions: Family Income Supplement (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The family income supplement, FIS, is an in-work support that provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. FIS is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low-paid workers with child dependants and to offer a financial incentive to take up employment. There are currently almost 57,000 families with more than 126,000 children in receipt of FIS. The estimated spend...

Other Questions: Family Income Supplement (31 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As I outlined in the answer, the reason is not solely the increase in employment. That is only part of the reason. There are a number of other factors that have given rise to the increase in the number of people in receipt of the family income supplement. The decision made in 2016 to change the thresholds meant that more people were eligible for it, as one would expect. The information...