Results 18,341-18,360 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Data (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. End of year records show that under the 2016 BSCFA scheme, payments were made to over 154,000 families in respect of some 283,000 children at a cost of over €39.8 million. The Government has provided...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Since 1st Jan 2017, the Dublin Central Rents Unit received 705 applications for rent supplement. Under the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness – Rebuilding Ireland, HAP was rolled out to all Dublin Local Authority areas with effect from the 1st March 2017. Since 1st March, where an application for rent supplement is received from a client with a long term housing need as...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Support Services (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The aim of the JobPath service, which is provided for long term unemployed jobseekers only, is to assist them in finding sustainable full-time paid employment by providing intensive individual support and assistance. All decisions regarding the participation by jobseekers on work experience programmes such as the First Steps internship programme are taken by my Department. I am advised...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Appeals (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 11 April 2017, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 5 April 2017, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Expenditure (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: As provided for in Budget 2012, from September 2012, new rate bands for State pension (contributory) were introduced. This resulted in one of the bands (in respect of those with a yearly average of 20-47 contributions) being replaced with three bands (in respect of yearly averages of 40-47, 30-39, and 20-29 respectively). These additional bands more accurately reflect the social insurance...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department does not employ staff through agencies. All staff recruitment for my Department is carried out by the Public Appointments Services with the exception of unestablished Service Officers, Service Attendants and Interns who are recruited directly by the Department. The number of staff employed by bodies under the aegis of my Department through recruitment agencies are outlined...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Contracts Data (17 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The cost of all work including investigations, completed by external agencies/consultants during 2016 in the areas of human resources and industrial relations contracted out by my Department and by the bodies that come under its aegis are outlined in the table. Department/Agency Cost Department of Social Protection €52,551 Citizens Information Board €207,128* Pensions...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that my department received an application for Carer’s Allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 7 March 2017. It is a condition for receipt of a CA that the person being cared for must have a disability whose effect is that they require full-time care and attention. This is defined as requiring from another person, continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Registration of Births (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The re-registration of births to include the name of the father is provided for in Section 23 of the Civil Registration Act 2004. This section provides that a registrar may enter the name of the father in the Register of Births on receipt of a declaration by the parents of the child identifying a person as the father, or on production of a Court Order declaring a person to be the father of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Social Welfare (Consolidated) Act 2005, Part 3, Ch. 2, Sect. 141 specifies that participation in activation meetings arranged by or on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection is mandatory for those in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance. All people in receipt of Jobseekers payment must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking employment. They are also...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Mortgage Interest Supplement Scheme (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The original purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was to provide short-term support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence due to temporary unemployment or loss of earnings. The scheme was discontinued to new entrants from 1st January 2014. Customers availing of this support...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Public Services Card Provision (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: A Public Services Card is issued to an individual following a robust registration process to establish and verify the person’s identity. Part of the required evidence of identity for a non-EEA national to get a Public Services Card is a current valid passport. The person concerned claims to be unable to produce such a document at this time. As a consequence, my Department is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that my department received an application for carer’s allowance (CA) from the person concerned on 29 March 2017. The application is currently being processed and once completed, the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome. In the meantime, both the person concerned and his spouse are in receipt of a weekly social welfare support. CA is a means-tested...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit Data (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Maternity Benefit is a payment made for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed pregnant women who satisfy certain pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions in order to avoid the need for them to work pre and post-delivery of their baby. The original scheme was introduced in 1970 and was extended to include self-employed mothers with effect from June 1997. It is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 20 April 2017, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 252 together. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,460 schools and organisations benefitting over 200,000 children at a total cost of some €47.7 million in 2017. The funding for the scheme was increased this year, as part of Budget 2017, by an additional €5.7 million (almost 14% over the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: My Department administers over 70 schemes and services. It processes in excess of 1.7 million applications per annum; issues 81 million payments per year to 2.1 million customers and their families and provides over 300,000 direct engagements in support of labour market participation. Staff in the Department are engaged with customers throughout the entire lifecycle of their claim, including...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: The Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State. In 2016, some 1.7 million applications for benefit, assistance and access to schemes were received and processed and over 82 million individual payments were made to people across all age groups and to employers. The scale of its operations and expenditure demand that...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit (16 May 2017)

Leo Varadkar: Currently there are 2,850 claims for Maternity Benefit waiting to be processed. Some 1,450 of these have a maternity leave commencement date of 15 May or earlier. Maternity Benefit claims are processed in leave commencement date order. The average time to process a paper claim is 6 weeks. Processing claims by leave commencement date order ensures that those whose maternity leave is...