Results 261-280 of 430 for 5 million speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (13 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be fully aware the school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to schools and organisations at a cost of €42 million in 2016. There are two schemes operated under the school meals programme. The first is the school meals local projects scheme through which funding is provided directly to participating schools and local and...

Pension Equality and Fairness: Motion [Private Members] (7 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...and any increase in the cost of the contributory pensions would have to be paid for by those paying Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions - employees and their employers; — the rate of consistent poverty amongst those over 65 is 2.1 per cent compared to 8 percent for the general population; for neither men nor women over 65 is the rate of consistent poverty over 2.5 per...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Water Conservation Grant Applications (7 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The eligibility criteria for the Water Conservation Grant are set out in the Water Services Act 2014 (Water Conservation Grant) Regulations 2015. Under regulation 5(1) a person who registers with Irish Water, as required under section 5(2)(a) of the Water Services Act 2014, on or before 30 June 2015 shall be eligible to receive the grant in 2015 if they were normally resident at the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (6 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...social welfare rates. Expenditure on pensions, at approximately €7 billion each year, is the largest block of expenditure in my Department in the Estimate for 2016, representing approximately 35% of overall expenditure. Due to demographic changes, my Department’s spending on older people is increasing year on year. Maintaining the rate of the State pension and other...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ..., and a targeted approach with measures to assist lone parents, low-income farm families and school children. The Bill provides that the maximum rate of all weekly benefits will increase by €5 so that all people of working age, as well as retired people aged 66 or older, will see an improvement in their weekly incomes. Overall, almost 1.5 million people will benefit from these...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...and is designed to encourage one-parent families to stay in or return to work or work more hours. It will also apply to persons in receipt of the jobseeker's transitional payment. It is intended that it will kick in on 5 January, subject to the Bill being passed by the Seanad. As part of the Government's commitment to rural Ireland, the Bill, in section 23, reverses completely the cuts...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...State pension which, of course, is very complicated and far from perfect. Some Senators, including Senator Kieran O'Donnell, referred to the fact that we now require people to have made 250 contributions during the course of their working life in order to qualify for a State contributory pension. That means that to qualify for a State contributory pension, a person has to work for...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...need to bear in mind that all these things cost money and all are paid for by other people who do not receive a bonus or may receive a much smaller bonus. The cost of the Christmas bonus is €220 million per annum and will be funded through a supplementary allocation to my Department. This relevant Supplementary Estimate will come before the select committee this week. Half of the...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Second Stage (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: .... Concessions to Oireachtas Members and judges would be more complicated and require a bit more convincing so I thought it best not to put the two in the one Bill. There is an additional €5.7 million for school breakfasts, of which €1.5 million is being earmarked for non-DEIS schools for the first time in a long time precisely for the reasons Senator Humphreys mentioned,...

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

Leo Varadkar: ...were followed. In 2014, 282 people were awarded compensation as a consequence of unfair dismissal. The amount of the award was less than €1,000 in 16 cases. It was between €2,000 and €5,000 in 55 cases, between €5,000 and €10,000 in 52 cases and between €10,000 and €20,000 in 78 cases. In 81 cases, the award was above €20,000....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme (24 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2016 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of €85 million on the farm assist scheme. Budget 2017 introduces new measures in relation to the assessment of means for farm assist. These include that farm income will now be assessed...

Other Questions: Rural Social Scheme (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As part of the social welfare budget package for 2017, I announced a €5 increase in the weekly rate of payment for rural social scheme participants from March, and an additional 500 places on the scheme. This will increase the overall number to 3,100. The level of funding allocated to the scheme for 2017 will increase to €47.6 million. Deputies on all sides of the House...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: After a series of challenging years, improvements for people in receipt of social welfare payments began in Budget 2015 and continued in Budget 2016. This included increases in the weekly rates of payment for pensioners and in the living alone allowance. There were also increases in child benefit, fuel allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. In addition, new initiatives aimed at...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I apologise for the delay in starting. There was crash involving a truck on the M50 and then it started to snow. Of course, these things never happened when I was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, but they do on occasion. The Deputy is correct. This section simply extends access to invalidity pension to self-employed persons and will not take effect until December 2017. I would...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputies points are well made. In the course of the budget negotiations my efforts were initially aimed at ensuring that there would be a €5 increase in the basic maximum payments for all recipients and that this would be the case across the board. That was my first priority. My second priority was that the increase would be €5. My third priority was that it would be put...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2016 Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of €85 million on the farm assist scheme. Budget 2017 introduces new measures in relation to the assessment of means for farm assist. These include that farm income will now be...

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Second Stage (8 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...; and a targeted approach with measures to assist lone parents, low income farm families and school children. The Bill provides that the maximum rate of all weekly benefits will increase by €5 so that people of working age, as well as retired people aged 66 or older, will all see an improvement in their weekly income. Increases for recipients aged 66 years and over will come...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (25 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 291 and 305 together. On Budget Day, I announced the first general increase in the weekly rates of payment since 2009. A €5 increase in the weekly rates of payment for all social welfare payments will commence from March, with proportionate increases for qualified adults and those on reduced rates of payment (including jobseekers on age-related...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Expenditure (25 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...of weekly social welfare rates. Expenditure on pensions, at approximately €7 billion, is the largest block of expenditure in my Department in the Estimate for 2016, representing approximately 35% of overall expenditure. Due to demographic changes, my Department's spending on older people is increasing year on year. Maintaining the rate of the State pension and other payments is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Data (19 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...of weekly social welfare rates. Expenditure on pensions, at approximately €7 billion, is the largest block of expenditure in my Department in the Estimate for 2016, representing approximately 35% of overall expenditure. Due to demographic changes, my Department’s spending on older people is increasing year on year. Maintaining the rate of the State pension and other...