Results 1,821-1,840 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Waiting Times (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the attached tabular statement. Average time to award Carer Allowance claims in each of the months January to October 2019. Month Average time to award (weeks) January 16 February 15 March 13 April 12 May ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. The person concerned is in receipt of CA for one care recipient since 24 October 2016. My department received an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. The person concerned is in receipt of CA for one care recipient since 2 March 2017. My department received an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: According to the records of my Department, the person concerned has a total of 1,366 full-rate paid and credited contributions for the period from 1958 to 2007 inclusive. This equates to a yearly average of 27 contributions which, as the person concerned reached pension age before 1 September 2012, is sufficient to qualify for 98% of the maximum rate of State pension (contributory),...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Working Family Payment Eligibility (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Working Family Payment (WFP) is an income-tested, in-work, family payment which provides additional financial support to employees on low earnings with children relative to their family size. WFP is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid employees with child dependents and to offer a financial incentive to pursue employment. In order to qualify for WFP, an applicant or the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Review (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Make Work Pay report was published in April 2017 following a commitment in the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for people with disabilities 2015 -2024, and was undertaken in order to better identify how people with disabilities could be supported to achieve their employment ambitions. The report made two recommendations (numbers 9 and 10) that addressed significant issues around the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Benefit Eligibility (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Social Welfare Act 2019 introduced a new scheme of jobseekers benefit for the self-employed since 1 November 2019. This new scheme builds on other significant improvements for self-employed people in recent years such as access to invalidity pension and treatment benefits in 2017. Many of the features of the new support for the self-employed are similar to the existing jobseekers...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Poverty (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The most recent data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2018, published by the CSO in late November, shows that the consistent poverty rate for children in 2018 was 7.7%. This is a reduction on the 2017 figure of 8.8% and the rate is now at its lowest since 2008 when it was 6.3%. The 2018 at-risk-of-poverty rate for children was 15.9%, a reduction on the 2017 figure of 18.4%...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Data (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 610 and 611 together. The National Social Target for Poverty Reduction aims to reduce consistent poverty from the 2010 baseline of 6.3% to 2% or less by 2020. This was an ambitious target but one to which the Government has remained committed. Data from the CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) show that consistent poverty rose sharply from...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Poverty Data (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The most recent data from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2018 was published by the CSO in late November. It shows that the 2018 at-risk-of-poverty rate for people with a principal economic status (PES) of ‘not at work due to illness of disability’ was 47.7%, an increase on the 2017 rate (35.4%). In 2018, the at-risk-of-poverty (AROP) threshold for a single person...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. The application was referred to a local social welfare inspector (SWI) on 17 October 2019 and follow up contact was made...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The aim of the Community Employment (CE) programme is to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and unemployed people by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. The programme helps break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market. CE is generally open to applicants aged between 21 and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Child Benefit Expenditure (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The estimated cost of a once-off annual double payment of Child Benefit to all recipients in July 2020 is an additional €173m. There is no provision in the 2020 Budget Day estimate for such a payment.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 616 and 631 together. The Community Employment Scheme (CE) is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and others with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis. The programme is delivered through independent Community Employment Sponsoring Bodies....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The range of education and training supports available through my Department enable eligible persons to pursue approved courses and to continue to receive income support for the duration of their training or study, subject to meeting certain conditions. My Department supports jobseekers, through the preservation of their welfare payment, wishing to advance to part-time education or short...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Illness Benefit Eligibility (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Government is committed to enhancing the position of the self-employed through improving the level of PRSI based benefits available to self-employed people and through a supportive tax regime. Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which covers them for access to long-term benefits such as State pension (contributory), widow's, widower's or surviving...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Advertising Campaigns (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: My Department is committed to ensuring that members of the public are aware of the social welfare supports and services that are available to them and that they are notified of scheme changes which may affect them. The Department’s public information campaigns includes paid media including national and regional print and radio, outdoor advertising, and social and digital media...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Data Sharing Arrangements (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The information requested is currently being compiled within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Freedom of Information Data (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the attached tabular statement. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy. Tabular Statement FOI Requests Received: 2016 to End November, 2019 Year Total Received Refused OIC overturned 2016 2,089 104 0 2017 2,443 166 1 ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Data (10 Dec 2019)

Regina Doherty: Increasing pension age, to moderate the increase in pension duration, is a means by which pensions can be made sustainable in the context of increasing longevity. In order to provide for sustainable pensions and to facilitate a longer working life, legislation passed in 2011 provides for an increase in the State pension age in three separate stages. In 2014, the State pension age was...