Results 281-300 of 430 for 5 million speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Payments (18 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 303 to 305, inclusive, 331 to 334, inclusive, 339 to 343, inclusive, and 345 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...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (18 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The rent supplement scheme is currently supporting some 50,700 recipients for which the Government has provided €267 million for in 2016. The most recent analysis, undertaken in June 2016, shows that there are approximately 39,200 landlords providing accommodation to rent supplement customers, of which approximately 260 refer to registered approved housing bodies. In general the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Household Benefits Scheme (18 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...the rate of the State pension and other core payments is critical in protecting people from poverty. The decision to discontinue the telephone allowance was estimated to provide annual savings of €48 million. These savings meant that my Department was able to retain the other valuable elements of the household benefits package such as the electricity and gas allowance and the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (18 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child Benefit is currently paid to around 619,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure in the order of over €2 billion in 2016. Child Benefit is an important source of income for all families and in Budget 2016 the Government increased Child Benefit by €5 per month, at a cost of €72 million. Budget 2009 reduced the age for...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (13 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...budget in which there are no giveaways and the changes are modest. Nonetheless, more than 840,000 people will benefit from the first increase in weekly social welfare payments since 2009 and 650,000 people will benefit from the €5 increase in the State pension. The social protection package ensures the recovery will benefit everyone, with no one left behind. It sets out to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (6 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The rent supplement scheme is currently supporting some 50,700 recipients for which the Government has provided €267 million for in 2016. Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant and there is no direct relationship between the landlord and the Department in the administration of the scheme. The most recent...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (4 Oct 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to schools and organisations benefitting over 200,000 children at a total cost of €42 million in 2016. The objective of the scheme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. Priority for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Data (27 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child Benefit is currently paid to around 619,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure in the order of over €2 billion in 2016. Child Benefit is an important source of income for all families and in Budget 2016 the Government increased Child Benefit by €5 per month, at a cost of €72 million. Budget 2009 reduced the age for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...the rate of inflation. The appropriate level of social welfare supports will be considered by Government in a budgetary context in the coming weeks, with due regard to available resources. A €5 increase in the weekly rates of payment to those aged 66 and over is estimated to cost €148.8 million in 2017. A €10 increase in the weekly rates of payment to those aged 66...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child Benefit is currently paid to around 624,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure in the order of over €2 billion in 2016. Child Benefit is an important source of income for all families and in Budget 2016 the Government increased Child Benefit by €5 per month, at a cost of €72 million. Budget 2009 reduced the age for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Paternity Leave Scheme (16 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...on the basis that the new entitlement would commence in September. Employers have been working and preparing to cater for paternity leave on that basis. My Department has been allocated €5 million for paternity benefit from September until the end of the year. Picking a date prior to September would require additional money, which has not been allocated to the Department of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Priorities for Department of Social Protection: Minister for Social Protection (7 Sep 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, we have still not made our formal submission to him. The Chairman knows how budgets work. There is always a squabble at the end over a couple of hundred million euro, but we have not even got to that point. I cannot tell the committee what will be in the budget. It is not that I am evading the answer but because I do not actually know yet. Needless...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (21 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child Benefit is currently paid to around 624,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure in the order of over €2 billion in 2016. Child Benefit is an important source of income for all families and in Budget 2016 the Government increased Child Benefit by €5 per month, at a cost of €72 million. Budget 2009 reduced the age for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Direct Provision Data (21 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...allowance is a non-statutory payment administered by my Department on behalf of the Department of Justice and Equality to persons in the Direct Provision system. The Government has provided €3.6 million for the allowance in 2016. The number of claimants for direct provision allowance is difficult to predict as it is a demand led scheme. Currently there are some 2,700 adults and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit (20 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...scheme was introduced in 1970 and was extended to include self-employed mothers with effect from June 1997. It is currently estimated that next year my Department will spend approximately €252 million on Maternity Benefit in respect of an average of 20,500 recipients per week. The table below estimates the additional cost, over and above the current estimated expenditure on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme (19 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: There are currently approximately 853,000 people in Ireland in receipt of free travel at an annual cost of €80 million per annum. The free travel scheme is available to all people aged over 66 living permanently in the State. Applicants who are under age 66, including those with learning disabilities, must be in receipt of a qualifying payment in order to qualify for the scheme....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (19 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to schools and organisations benefitting over 200,000 children at a total cost of €42 million in 2016. The objective of the scheme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. In recent...

Seanad: Social Protection: Statements (12 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...should contain. It is useful in the first instance to outline the scale of the Department's expenditure and its importance for very large sections of the Irish population. An allocation of €19.625 billion has been provided for the Department this year. That represents 38% of gross current Government spending. Each week, about 1.37 million people, pensioners, people with...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Poverty Data (12 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ..., this situation applied to 10.3% of people in lone parent households in Ireland and to 11% of such people in the EU overall. The deprivation rate for lone parent households in Ireland in 2014 is 58.7%, reflecting a 4.5 percentage point decrease on the 2013 rate. A precisely equivalent measure is not produced by Eurostat. However, the stricter Eurostat measure, severematerial...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Data (5 Jul 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Child Benefit is currently paid to around 624,000 families in respect of some 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure in the order of over €2 billion in 2016. Child Benefit is an important source of income for all families and in Budget 2016 the Government increased Child Benefit by €5 per month, at a cost of €72 million. Budget 2009 reduced the age for...