Results 141-160 of 25,281 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Parent’s Benefit is a payment for employed people, who are on Parent’s Leave from work, and self-employed people who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. Currently, seven weeks Parent's Leave and Benefit is available to all eligible parents of children born or adopted from 1 November 2019. The leave and benefit must be availed of within two years of the child's birth...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly allowance payable in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and, where the level of the child’s disability is such that the child is likely to require that level of care and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Bodies (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.7 billion this year. As part of Budget 2024, I announced my intention to establish an Interdepartmental Working Group with the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department undertook a procurement process in 2023 to update the EmployAbility service in order to comply with legal advice from the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and to meet the Department’s objective of shifting emphasis from financial monitoring of service providers to focusing on service quality for clients. Stakeholder engagement was a key...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The proposals outlined in the Green Paper on Disability Reform would not have impacted the payment of students in higher education receiving a disability payment. Based on feedback from the Green Paper consultation, it became clear that there were significant concerns with these proposals. I have listened to these concerns and decided not to implement the Green Paper proposals. The...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund as at 31 December 2020 found that even without any economic shocks to the economy or change to policy, the long-term sustainability of the Fund will face significant challenges. In the absence of any action to tackle the shortfalls, the excess of expenditure over income of the Fund will increase significantly over the medium to long term with...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: In March 2022, the European Council adopted unanimously the implementing decision regarding the Temporary Protection Directive, due to the mass influx of persons fleeing Ukraine as a consequence of the war. People arriving from Ukraine under the Directive can move through the EU as EU citizens. In October 2023, the EU Council agreed to extend the period of temporary protection to March 2025....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: Disability Allowance is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and Habitual Residency conditions. Medical eligibility for Disability Allowance (DA) is assessed on a case by case basis and is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pension Provisions (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department does not administer private pensions mentioned by the Deputy. The number of claims which were rejected for the contributory social insurance-based pension, the State Pension (Contributory), in each of the last five years are shown in the table below. These figures include claims which may have been rejected for reasons other than insufficient contributions, such as when an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Government acknowledges the crucial role that carers play in Irish society and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. Carer's Allowance 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...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The objective of the School Meals Programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. Following the expansion of the programme in recent years, some 2,600 schools and organisations, covering...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Priorities (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a suite of income supports for those who are unable to work due to an illness or disability. These include contributory payments, based on PRSI contributions, such as Illness Benefit and Invalidity Pension, and non-contributory payments, based on a means test, such as Disability Allowance and Blind Pension. At an estimate, a non-means tested universal payment at...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Disability Services (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: My Department provides a wide range of income and employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, and their employers. These supports include the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and the Disability Awareness Support Scheme. The Reasonable Accommodation Fund provides financial support for people with disabilities and for employers to help make their workplaces more...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: With more than 90 separate schemes and services in my Department, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State, I am committed to ensuring that members of the public are aware of the supports and services available to them through my Department. Public information campaigns play an important role in helping to make people aware of their benefits, and all of our advertising...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average number of weeks to award a Disability Allowance claim is currently 12 weeks. My Department understands the many pressures faced by people and always seeks to ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: International Protection (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: In March 2022, the European Council adopted unanimously the implementing decision regarding the Temporary Protection Directive, due to the mass influx of persons fleeing Ukraine as a consequence of the war. People arriving from Ukraine under the Directive can move through the EU as EU citizens. In October 2023, the EU Council agreed to extend the period of temporary protection to March...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.7 billion this year. Carer's Benefit is available to people who leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a child or an adult...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Business Supports (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: In general, the issue of targeted supports for businesses is a matter for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. However, the following is the position with regards to employer PRSI. The Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund as at 31 December 2020 found that even without any economic shocks to the economy or change to policy, the long-term sustainability of the Fund...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2024)

Heather Humphreys: 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. An application for CA was received from the person concerned on 14 November 2023. It is a condition for receipt of a...