Results 18,081-18,100 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department, like all Government departments and agencies, is required to operate within a staff ceiling figure and a commensurate administrative staffing budget. My Department are currently in discussion with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with regard to staffing needs for 2021 for all business areas within the Department, taking into account the increasing demand on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Benefit (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's benefit is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person in need of full-time care and attention. Carer's leave legislation is administered by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and provides for temporary unpaid leave from employment for employees who satisfy certain conditions. The duration of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Employment (CE) scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis There have been no recent changes to the eligibility rules for CE participants. The last occasion a number of changes were...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Of the approximately 206,000 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) some 5,900 (or 2.8%) are members of the arts, entertainment and recreation sector. This represents a 58% reduction from 14,200 claimants in that sector at the peak in May. This reduction in the numbers of people in receipt of PUP is in line with reductions seen in other sectors and indicates that many...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Rights (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 494, 495 and 501 together. The Duffy Cahill report, which was commissioned by the Government in the aftermath of the Clery's closure, highlighted how the issues raised by the event and the subsequent legal cases are highly complex. The Duffy-Cahill Report was sent to the Company Law Review Group (CLRG) in 2016 for its consideration as part of the work...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The estimated additional revenue that would be raised by adjusting the rate of the social insurance Class S contribution for self-employed workers from 4% to 5.75% and to 7.50% respectively would be €230m and €465m respectively. This estimate does not take into account any possible changes in self-employed worker behaviour arising from increasing the rate of the Class S PRSI...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 497 and 570 together. The enterprise support grant was extended to assist eligible self-employed individuals who exit the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment or jobseekers schemes after 18th May 2020 to re-start their business which was closed due to the impact of the pandemic. As of Friday 18th September, there have been 1,940 grants approved by my...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 498, 546 and 563 together. The Back to Education Allowance has recently been extended as part of the July Stimulus in response to Covid-19. Ordinarily a person must be in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for a minimum period of time before pursuing training or education. This condition is now being waived for recipients of the pandemic...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Fortnightly payments were introduced by my Department to assist with social distancing measures in accordance with public health guidelines. While some welfare schemes have reverted to a weekly payment pattern, fortnightly payments have been retained for a number of schemes, including Disability, Pensions and Carers’ payments. These schemes mainly involve payments to people who...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The matter raised by the Deputy concerns the notice period with respect to marriages and the implications arising from the need to reschedule proposed marriage dates due to the impact of Covid-19 public health restrictions. The General Register Office has contacted the parties to explain the opportunities available to them within the legal framework of the Civil Registration Act 2004 to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Benefit (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's benefit (CARB) is a payment made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care and attention. One of the conditions that must be satisfied to qualify for CARB is that a person must not work more than 18.5 hours with earnings of no more than €332.50 less statutory deductions per week....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a range of supports and programmes catering for the unemployed and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include programmes such as Community Employment (CE) and Tús. CE is designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons, countrywide, with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government states that the Low Pay Commission is to examine Universal Basic Income, informed by a review of previous international pilots, and resulting in a universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government. The practical arrangements for giving effect to this commitment are still being considered. It is intended that this matter will be progressed in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: In December 2019, my Department engaged with external consultants in order to undertake a review of all current contracted Public Employment Services (PES), including JobPath. The consultants' research, recently completed, will help inform the Government's approach on the future structure of all contracted PES. I expect that the final report will be formally submitted to me shortly. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Blind Pension is a means-tested payment for blind and visually impaired people between the ages of 18 and 66 who are habitually resident in Ireland. In order to qualify for Disability Allowance, a person must be aged between 16 and 66, satisfy a medical and means test and be habitually resident in the State. Neither Blind Pension or Disability Allowance are payable for any period in respect...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Non-Contributory) (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: State pension non-contributory, a social assistance scheme, is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. For the purposes of the means test, it is necessary at the outset for a state pension non-contributory applicant to provide...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Further to clarification received from the Deputy’s office, it appears that this query seeks clarification in relation to the State Pension (Contributory) and the State Pension Age. The State Pension (Contributory) was not paid at the age of 65 years in 2012. The State pension age was 66 years in 2012 and remains so. The Government will introduce legislation later this year to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 17 July 2020. The Appeals Officer requested further information from the person concerned on 24 July 2020, and this was received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 17 August 2020. It is envisaged that the Appeals Officer's decision will issue in the near future....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The customer applied for One Parent Family Allowance on July 23rdlast and the application was referred to the local Social Welfare Inspector for investigation. This application was disallowed on September 15thlast as the Social Welfare Inspector was not satisfied that the customer is residing at her stated address. The customer applied for Basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance on August...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (22 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The person concerned reached pension age on 20 August 2011. According to the records of my Department, they have a total of 1,504 qualifying paid and credited social insurance contributions for the period from their date of entry into insurable employment (2 October 1961) until end-December 2010, which equates to a yearly average of 30 contributions. This gives them entitlement to a...