Results 1,881-1,900 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes mortgage interest supplement, is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive. A mortgage interest supplement provides short-term income 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. The...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The person concerned originally applied for Disability Allowance on 25 November 2005. The principal conditions for receipt of disability allowance are that the medical eligibility criteria are met and the means test which applies is satisfied. The person concerned satisfies the medical eligibility criteria. However, his claim was refused on 14 March 2006 as it was found that the income...

Written Answers — Unemployment Levels: Unemployment Levels (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The data requested in respect of my Department's offices located in Carlow and Kilkenny is given as follows in tabular form. The figures shown are from the Live Register for the last Friday of December in the years 2006 and 2007 and for 29th February 2008. The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers (those who work up to three days per week)...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The person concerned has been in receipt of Family Income Supplement (FIS) since March 2006. The claim fell due for annual renewal on 5th March 2008 and the renewal application form was received by the Department on 21st February 2008. As one section of the form was not fully completed it was returned to the person concerned. The completed form was received by the Department on 12th March...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The case reported on by the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) involves a couple who were over 56 years of age in 1988 when compulsory social insurance for the self-employed was introduced and who could not, therefore, satisfy one of the basic requirements for pension as they did not commence paying insurance 10 years before pension age. As the Deputy may be aware, a special pension paid...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The national fuel allowance scheme assists householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive (HSE) payments with meeting the cost of their heating needs during the winter season. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's normal heating expenses. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. Improvements to the fuel allowance in recent years include an...

Written Answers — Exchange Rates: Exchange Rates (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: In assessing means deriving from payments received from EU Member States (including the U.K.) which do not form part of the EMU currencies, my Department uses the conversion mechanism provided for under Article 107 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 574/72 on Social Security for Migrant Workers. The exchange rates for converting Sterling and other non-Euro currencies are published quarterly in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: Disability allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66 years. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to both a medical examination and a means test. The person concerned is currently in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance and applied for a Disability Allowance on 12th September 2007. The...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: No such body, organisation or committee has been established by my Department during the year 2007 or in the first three months of 2008.

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Community Employment, or CE, scheme is designed to assist long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged persons by offering them part-time and temporary work positions in jobs based within local communities. Following the placement, participants are actively encouraged to capitalise on the skills and experience that they have obtained through the scheme by seeking more permanent part-time...

Written Answers — Ministerial Travel: Ministerial Travel (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Department has not found any record of payments made for the private hire of helicopters from 2002 to date. I understand that information regarding the use of the Ministerial Air Transport Service (MATS) is being provided by my colleague the Minister for Defence.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: Rent supplement is administered on my behalf by the Health Service Executive (HSE) as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. Rent supplement is subject to a limit on the amount of rent that an applicant may incur. Rent limits are set at levels that enable the different eligible household types to secure and retain basic suitable rented accommodation, having regard to the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy refers to illness benefits and allowances which is taken to mean the Illness Benefit, Disability Allowance and Invalidity Pension schemes. Where eligibility on medical grounds for any of these schemes is being reviewed, the case is referred to the Department's Medical Review and Assessment Service to be examined by a Departmental Medical Assessor. In the first instance, cases are...

Written Answers — Unemployment Levels: Unemployment Levels (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 585, 588 and 592 together. The data requested is presented in tabular form in two tables. The figures shown are from the Live Register for the last Friday of December in each of the years 2003 to 2007 and for 29th February 2008. Table 1 shows that the number of males on the Live Register rose from 99,153 at end December 2003 to 122,520 at 29th February 2008....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: Disability allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a disability who are aged between 16 and 66 years. The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to both a medical examination and a means test. There are over 91,000 persons currently in receipt of DA — 54,800 male and 36,500 females (figures as at 28 February 2008). Illness...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: I understand that the Deputy is seeking information on the number of payments that were terminated by my Department as opposed to payments terminated, such as, at the request of a customer or where entitlement ceased at the end of a defined period of entitlement. The tabular statement sets out the number of payments that were either reduced or terminated in each of the past 5 years as a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: Details of Respite Care Grant (RCG) applications received, approved and disallowed by month, for the 12 month period from April 2007 to March 2008, are shown in tabular form. Differences between total applications received and those decided are due to the fact that some RCG applications are ultimately decided as part of a claim for Carers Allowance or Benefit. In addition some cases require...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: ——from 1.7% previously. They are real people and their circumstances concern me and the Government. As I stated in my reply, there are a multiplicity of issues we try to achieve to lift those people out of poverty. There are a number of obvious areas, one being the family income support scheme, which supports those families, members of which are at work but who are still at risk of...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: This is the dilemma that arises. We have probably been the most successful country in Europe in removing workers on low incomes from the tax net. One of the consequences of this is that benefits arising to workers based on the tax system will not benefit those who are not liable to pay tax. In compensation for that, however, we have greatly improved the benefits available to such persons...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (2 Apr 2008)

Martin Cullen: It is the Government's intention to continue to ensure that workers do not enter the taxation system until they achieve a good level of income. This is a laudable and important target and one towards which we have made significant strides in recent years. I understand approximately 750,000 members of the workforce are outside the tax net.