Results 1-20 of 16,907 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank both Deputies. As I said in relation to the franchisees, the self-employed and the employees of contractors of Fastway, they can apply for jobseekers' payment immediately. We have processed and awarded 56 claims already in relation to that group of people. The work my Department team is doing at the moment is working with receivers, getting records of who is an employee and who is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy McCormack, and Deputy Brennan for tabling this question. The implementation of My Future Fund from 1 January 2026 will fulfil a key programme for Government commitment to ensure that more than 750,000 workers are brought into a retirement savings scheme for the first time, giving those workers more security in their retirement. There has been extensive engagement with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputies McCormack and Butterly for their questions. It is our intention to keep it simple. That is coming from the feedback that was under way for seven years now. We have started a strawman consultation. Employers have asked us to keep it simple and to keep the administration costs as minimal as possible. Most importantly for the approximately 750,000 people, they will have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pensions Reform (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: We have already provided debate opportunities in the House. We have provided guidance in the audiovisual room. We are providing more technical guidance for Deputies and Senators in relation to auto-enrolment so that they can provide information in their constituencies. I would direct every Deputy to gov.ie/auto-enrolment where there are videos and supports in place for all organisations to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: They are 20 permanent staff for the appeals office. You do not just drop somebody into an appeals office. They need training and experience and there is a process in place within the appeals office to do that. It would have taken time for those 20 to be trained up and get stuck in but they are definitely getting stuck in. I also point out that we introduced new social welfare appeals...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Every appeal is different and every scheme is different. Given the complexity of some of the schemes, getting to a ten-week turnaround time would be good for some of the schemes. I will revert to the Deputy, as I do not have the detail about supplementary welfare appeals. Appeals will also depend on the detail provided. It is not always easy to get the level of detail we need to do an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputy. I also thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for tabling the question and her engagement over recent days about the Fastway workers. All of our thoughts are with the workers affected by this receivership. It is very concerning for all of them and I assure Deputy Guirke that my Department's priority is to support all the workers who are affected and ensure they receive their...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am listening to concerns directly through the Deputy, Deputy Conway-Walsh and many other Deputies. I have met workers myself in my own constituency. That is why we have put the processes in place that have ensured 45 urgent needs payments have been made and 56 jobseeker's claims have been awarded. The offices are available to the Deputy to process any specific claims he has. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputies O'Sullivan and O'Connor for the question. The programme for Government contains the commitment to abolish the means test for carers over the life of the Government. Budget 2026 increases the earnings disregard for carer's allowance by €375 to €1,000 per week for a single person and by €750 to €2,000 per week for a couple from July 2026. These...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: The context of the commitment in the programme for Government is to do it in a progressive manner as part of the annual budget process. We are still finalising budget 2026 in terms of passing the Bill and we have not given a huge focus to 2027 yet. In terms of abolishing the carer's allowance, the Department has estimated a cost of approximately €600 million. This is based on...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I will revert to the Deputy on the first point regarding multiple people in a home. With regard to pay-related carer's benefit, and as Deputy O'Sullivan knows, we introduced a pay-related jobseeker's benefit earlier this year. I am waiting to do a full 12-month evaluation of the impact of this scheme. It will give me guidance on introducing it for carers and for parental leave. Once...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan and I acknowledge his ongoing engagement on this issue. In 2024, the Department's deciding officers and designated persons made almost 3.4 million appealable decisions. Of these, 174,000 claims were disallowed or rejected, representing 5% of all decisions, and 40,684 appeals were registered. This represents just over 1% of the overall total decisions. At current...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputies Ardagh and Daly for this question. DCA is a non-means-tested payment of €360 per month and is payable in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability. The child must require continuous care and attention substantially over and above that required by other children their age. Applications for DCA are decided by a deciding officer on an individual...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: I have actually started the process of looking at all the forms in the Department. This entire office probably engages with all the forms on a daily basis. I would certainly like to get feedback from all the Deputies. We looked at the DCA form during the year. We engaged with DCA recipients and carers' advocacy groups, which improved the process. We provided additional information and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: We made a lot of changes in recent years to DCA. In fairness to the Department, there were 29,305 people receiving DCA in respect of 31,628 children in 2015. In 2024, there were 57,319 people receiving DCA in respect of 64,676 children. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that people have that support. We want to make further changes where possible. We have also expanded the payment...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Eligibility (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: Our focus in this year's budget was on the fuel allowance, in terms of energy support, and on making permanent changes to it and extending it to people on the working-family payment. There are 55,000 families on that payment. We have also made changes in order that those on disability allowance who move from that to work will keep their fuel allowance for five years. That addresses some of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: My Department provides a suite of income supports to people with disabilities, including disability allowance, DA, blind pension, invalidity pension and partial capacity benefit. DA is a means-tested payment for people who are substantially restricted from working because of their disability. Invalidity pension is a weekly social insurance benefit payment made to people who are regarded as...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: It is important to constantly keep all of the Department's schemes under review and also review what the demand factors are. Work is under way into what a permanent cost-of-disability payment will look like, both in terms of the level of that payment and those who will qualify for it. People's experience of disability is not uniform. There is a challenge in the context of ensuring that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: In relation to poverty, the cost-of-disability payment is going to be very focused on addressing that. As stated, there will be a need to make it as relevant as possible. I want to see us open up our imagination in the context of employment opportunities for people with disabilities and that we offer more opportunities in the digital space and in the creative space. That is why we have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (13 Nov 2025)

Dara Calleary: What we have already done and what we are going to do over the course of Government is turn those one-off payments into permanent supports in a way that people can plan on a year-to-year basis. This year, as I have said, as a result of the weekly increase in the rate of payment relating to the domiciliary care allowance and the fuel allowance and other changes, there will be an extra...