Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 476: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she proposes to introduce full disability occupational injury payment or equivalent for those affected by pneumoconiosis whether or not they are deemed to be only partially affected by the illness; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40005/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Pneumoconiosis is a prescribed disease for the purpose of the Occupational Injuries scheme administered by my Department. The legislation governing the Occupational Injuries Scheme provides entitlement to benefit for persons suffering from certain prescribed diseases which are listed in the legislation and where that person has contracted that disease in the course of their employment.

Where a person has contracted one of the diseases listed in the legislation, benefits are payable if they were employed in an occupation which is specifically prescribed in relation to that disease or if they can show, to the satisfaction of the Chief Medical Advisor in the Department, that the disease was contracted through an employment not specifically prescribed in relation to that disease.

Employment under a contract of service is insurable for Occupational Injuries Benefit under the Social Welfare Acts. An insured person who contracts pneumoconiosis may qualify for disablement benefit under that scheme, in addition to illness benefit under the general social insurance scheme, subject to meeting the qualifying conditions. Medical assessments are undertaken in all such cases to determine the degree of disablement, which is calculated by comparison of the state of health of the applicant with a person of the same age and gender.

Persons claiming Occupational Injuries Benefit in cases of Pneumoconiosis are referred to Consultant Respiratory Physicians in the first instance for an examination and report. This examination consists of a clinical assessment and pulmonary function testing (PFT). Disablement benefit is awarded on the basis of the consultant's report, including the pulmonary function test result. The degree of disablement is expressed as a percentage of loss of faculty and the compensation payable varies accordingly.

Loss of faculty may be determined within a range of less than 1% to 100%, depending on the severity of the condition. A person must be assessed as having a minimum of 20% loss of faculty before they may be considered as being incapable of work due to their disablement. Where a person feels that his/her condition has deteriorated since the assessment was made under the scheme, it is open to that person to apply for a review of the percentage calculated. There are no plans at this time to introduce changes to these arrangements.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 477: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of persons eligible for free travel in 2006, 2007 and 2008; if she will extend the scheme for 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40006/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Free Travel scheme is available to persons aged 66 years or over who are permanently resident in the State. The scheme is also available to persons under age 66 who satisfy certain qualifying conditions. Beneficiaries of the scheme can travel for free on scheduled CIE public transport services, Luas and a range of services offered by 93 private operators in various parts of the country.

The number of people eligible for free travel in each of the three years is outlined in the table below:

There are no plans to extend the scheme

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 478: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on extending eligibility for persons in receipt of disability or invalidity pension to enable those in receipt of such payments to participate in community employment schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40007/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Disability allowance is a means-tested weekly payment for people who are substantially restricted in taking up employment owing to an illness or disability that is expected to last for at least one year. Earnings from employment, however, may be subject to a disregard that will exempt such income from assessment where the employment is considered to be rehabilitative in nature. Employment on a Community Employment Scheme falls into this category of rehabilitative work.

The income disregard operates on the basis of a tapered withdrawal rate between €120 and €350. This means that all income up to €120 is disregarded as means when assessing entitlement, while income between €120 and €350 is assessed at a rate of 50 per cent. The effect of this tapered withdrawal rate is that a single person can earn up to €432 per week before their disability allowance fully ceases.

The application for the employment to be considered rehabilitative must be made to the Department and should be sent in as soon as the employment commences. In the case of Community Employment Schemes, approval is normally given on foot of certification of placement by FÁS.

Invalidity pension is a social insurance based payment paid to people who are permanently incapable of work due to disability or illness. One of the conditions for receipt of the payment is that the recipient does not engage in any form of employment.

However, an exemption to this requirement is provided for in very specific circumstances to allow persons who are regarded as permanently incapable of work to engage in training or part-time rehabilitative employment which would increase the opportunity for them to return to the open labour market. Such an exemption, which typically lasts for 12 months, will normally take the form of employment which is deemed by the Department to be both part-time (i.e. not more than 19.5 hours per week) and rehabilitative in nature or, alternatively, a community employment scheme or a training course arranged by FÁS. An application for such an exemption must be made to the Department in advance of the employment or training course beginning.