Results 19,961-19,980 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: This man has been awarded disability allowance with effect from 11 May 2016. The first payment will be made by his chosen payment method on 4 January 2017. Arrears of payment due will issue as soon as possible once any necessary adjustment is calculated and applied in respect of any overlapping payments or in respect of outstanding overpayments (if applicable). I trust this clarifies the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Non-Disclosure Agreements (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The agencies under the aegis of my Department are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, the Pensions Council and the Social Welfare Tribunal. The subject matter of the question from the Deputy relates to non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements between my Department or its agencies with any organisation, such agreements having been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Benefit Eligibility (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware the Carer's benefit is a payment for insured people who have recently left the workforce and are providing full-time care and attention to certain people who require that level of care. A person can be considered to be providing full-time care and attention where they are engaged in employment, self-employment or on training courses outside the home for a maximum...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Social Assistance payments act as a safety net for people who have insufficient income and who do not qualify for a contributory payment. The use of a means test is to ensure that scarce resources are directed to those in greatest need. Payments from the United Kingdom (UK) are assessed as income under current legislation. In assessing means derived from payments received from non-European...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Ministerial Advisers Appointments (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: There have been no additional special advisers appointed by me.

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I do not propose to accept the amendment. The original purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was to provide a short-term support to eligible people who were unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of their home. Section 11 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 provided for the closure of the scheme to new entrants from January 2014 and the cessation...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I totally disagree. If we want to have a genuinely targeted and short-term solution, persons who cannot pay their mortgage for a few months should approach the lending institution and be given a mortgage holiday, have their mortgage term extended or have their payments changed.

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: If the State and taxpayers decide to pay someone's mortgage interest for a few months in these circumstances, it would amount to a subsidy for the banks. I find it remarkable that we are having this debate and that the Deputy is proposing to use public money to provide a further subsidy for the banks. I totally disagree with her.

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The cost of retrospective payment will be examined. To go back and recalculate people's pensions would be a very big job. If there is a significant change in the rules, we could recalculate the pensions of people who have already retired and tell them their pensions are being reduced. We are facing into people coming to us and saying they are not getting the pension they thought they would...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputies for raising this issue and touching on some of the anomalies that exist in the way we calculate contributory pensions. Regarding the issue raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett, my officials and I are not familiar with the situation whereby only one person in a couple was required to make PRSI contributions but the history of social insurance legislation is lengthy and...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: -----details we would be happy to check that out, even for our own education. It is the case that pre-1995 public servants paid a lower rate of PRSI. As a result, public servants recruited before 1995 pay a lower rate of PRSI at 0.9%. This means that they are not entitled to a State contributory pension. That is the case for men and women, married or unmarried. It has nothing to do with...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Yes. Those recruited to the public service before 1995 pay a lower rate of PRSI and are not entitled to a State contributory pension as a result. That has nothing to do with them being men or women, married or not married. It is just that public servants recruited before 1995 pay less than one quarter of the amount of PRSI paid by anyone else. Their employer pays nothing at all for them...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Having listened and discussed this a little, perhaps Deputy John Brady and I are on the same wavelength. He is not proposing double compensation as much as a double penalty.

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The employer would have to compensate the individual fully for his or her loss of income and also the Department of Social Protection for the payments made. This needs to be considered further and I would need to receive the advice of the Attorney General on whether we could introduce double penalties. I am not familiar with other instances in civil or criminal law where double penalties...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Second, the amendment proposed is very broad and includes all social welfare payments. For example, if someone was unfairly dismissed and, separately, his or her partner or a relative became unwell and the person availed of carer's benefit or carer's allowance, the amendment would allow that payment to be recouped, even though it had no connection whatsoever with the unfair dismissal. A...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The principle of double compensation, namely that a person is not compensated twice in respect of the same injury, must be central to our thinking in this matter. The current arrangements draw a clear distinction between compensation properly due in respect of unfair dismissal on the one hand and social welfare payments to meet income support on the other. If we were to change that position...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The stated intention of the amendment is to recoup for the State the cost of welfare payments in cases where a person is unfairly dismissed. In principle, it seems like an attractive and appropriate course of action. However, if applied to unfair dismissal cases, the principal could give rise to unintended consequences which would not be in the interests of persons found to have been...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I imagine the €12.70 figure relates to what used to be £10. As such, I suspect it has not been increased for a very long time. I want to be as helpful here as possible and to understand this better myself. I am having trouble understanding how this impacts on individual cases and I would welcome a report to understand it myself. I can direct officials to get started on that...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: While I do not propose to accept the amendment as a legislative obligation, I will ask my officials to examine the issue of jobseeker’s benefit and the treatment of part-time and seasonal workers, including those categorised as having subsidiary employment. We believe this work could be done in approximately four months. The matter has been raised several times, particularly in the...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report Stage (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for his comments. He is quite right in that there is no realistic prospect of meeting the 4% target in 2016. That target was set long before the financial crisis, but we do not yet know how much progress we have made in getting to that point. That is why I would also like to see up-to-date numbers. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked about the impact of measures. The...