Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)
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660. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to revise the level of income disregard for the purposes of means testing for those persons in receipt of Army pensions which are currently €2 per week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42585/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Social welfare legislation provides that for the purpose of means testing for weekly social assistance schemes, account is taken of property other than the family home owned by the claimant and his or her spouse/partner, other capital such as savings, investments and shares, and any income of the claimant or spouse. The means test for weekly social assistance schemes provides for a disregard of €104 per annum for army pensions payments paid under the Army Pensions Acts 1923 to 1980. It should be noted that the State Pension Non Contributory scheme has a general means disregard of €30 per week. This means that a person can receive an army pension of up to €1,664 per annum (if she or he had no other means) and still receive the maximum weekly rate of the State Pension Non Contributory. A pensioner with income of €250 per week can still receive a minimal pension payment, which includes supplementary benefits such as the Free Travel pass, the Household Benefits package and Fuel Allowance.

The means testing of social welfare payments reflects the fact that there is an expectation that people with income are in a position to use that income to support themselves without having to rely solely on a means tested welfare payment.

Any changes to the current arrangements would have to be considered in an overall policy and Budgetary context.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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661. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the most appropriate payment in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42588/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The person concerned is currently in receipt of a jobseekers payment, the eligibility criteria for which state that the person must be available for and genuinely seeking full time employment. Additionally, they are required, when requested to do so, to engage with the department’s activation measures, avail of suitable education, training or development opportunities or specified employment programmes and schemes. From the information available to the Department it have been confirmed that the person concerned has not been referred to Tús, however she was randomly selected to engage with the Jobpath initiative on the 02 October, 2017. JobPath is an approach to employment activation which caters mainly for people who are long-term unemployed (over 12 months) to assist them to secure and sustain full-time paid employment or self-employment. Participants on JobPath will receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment and to assist them in finding jobs.

If the person concerned is not in a position to engage with Jobpath or meet the other eligibility criteria of the jobseeker payment they should contact their nearest Intreo Office or Social Welfare Branch Office to discuss other scheme options available from the Department that may be more suitable to them, given their current circumstances.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the deputy.