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Thursday, 28 Nov 2013

Written Answers Nos. 28-34

Official Languages Act 2003 Compliance

Questions (28)

Seán Kyne

Question:

28. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has an Irish language service plan; if not, the steps being taken to ensure that her Department can meet its public service delivery objectives through the first official language; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50837/13]

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Written answers

The Department of Social Protection is committed to providing a quality customer service in both Irish and English. Since 2007, an Irish Language Scheme for the Department, as required under the Official Languages Act 2003, has been is in place. A new Irish Language Scheme is currently being drafted and there have been on-going discussions with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in relation to this. Since 2007, this Department’s organisation and structure has changed in a very fundamental way with the transfer of staff and services from a number of other organisations including the Health Service Executive and FÁS. In preparation for the new Scheme, there has been a detailed examination of the level of service available through Irish in the Department (as it is now constituted). An invitation for submissions, from interested parties, on how a better service through Irish might be provided to customers was recently advertised. Consideration will be given to submissions received in the drafting of the new Scheme.

Civil Registration Legislation

Questions (29)

Noel Harrington

Question:

29. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider legislation to mandate the civil registration service section of the Health Service Executive to notify all relevant Departments, local authorities and agencies of all deaths registered with it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47949/13]

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Written answers

The General Register Office (GRO) currently supplies details of all deaths registered by them to the Death Event Publication Service (DEPS) which is the responsibility of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The DEPS is a ‘publish and subscribe’ service where notifications of all the approximately 30,000 deaths registered annually by the GRO are published. Relevant information on each death is made available electronically, to all subscribing public sector agencies. All public sector agencies may subscribe to the DEPS. In the circumstances, it is not planned to review legislation with regard to this matter.

Question No. 30 answered with Question No. 23.
Question No. 31 answered with Question No. 11.

Farm Assist Scheme Payments

Questions (32, 33)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

32. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Social Protection if she has carried out an analysis of the impact her changes to farm assist with respect to income disregards have had on farmers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50845/13]

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Charlie McConalogue

Question:

33. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider reversing the changes she made to farm assist in view of the fact that they have had a serious negative effect on the income levels of already struggling farming families; if she has carried out an analysis of the impact of the changes for those families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50846/13]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 33 together.

The farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker’s allowance. It was introduced in 1999 to replace ‘Smallholders Unemployment Assistance’ for low income farmers, without the requirement to be available for and genuinely seeking work. Farm assist recipients retain all the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. Recent changes to the scheme have brought it into closer alignment with the jobseeker’s allowance scheme’s treatment of self-employed persons.

Farm assist is a flexible payment and any farmer experiencing lower levels of income or cash-flow issues can ask his/her local social welfare/Intreo office to review the level of means applying to their claim. The assessment of means for the purpose of qualifying for farm assist is designed to reflect the actual net income and looks at gross income, less any expenses necessarily incurred, from farming. Income and expenditure figures for the preceding year are generally used as an indicator of the expected position in the following year. However, account is taken of any exceptional circumstances so as to ensure that the assessment accurately reflects the current situation. In the case of new entrants or persons changing from one type of farming to another the assessment looks at all expected annual income and is based on normal output and costs appropriate to items such as normal stock levels, capacity, and market trends.

As part of the normal budget process, all potential budget measures, including any changes to the farm assist scheme are assessed in terms of the impact they would have if introduced. Since the introduction of the changes to the farm assist scheme over recent budgets, no formal analysis of the impact of these changes has been carried out. However, the scheme is kept under review. In addition, the Department regularly discusses the scheme with the Irish Farmers Association. There are no plans to change the current scheme criteria.

Civil Registration Legislation

Questions (34)

Denis Naughten

Question:

34. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50608/13]

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Written answers

On 19 July, 2013, the Cabinet approved the drafting of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2013. I brought this proposal for legislation to the Cabinet as there are a number of important policy issues that I want to see implemented through amendments to the 2004 Act. Two of the principal ones are as follows: the introduction of measures to combat marriages of convenience by making such marriages far more difficult to contract in the future; the establishment of a birth registration process which will make it an obligation to include the father’s particulars on a birth certificate so as to ensure that the child will have a record of their father.

The Bill will also provide for a wide range of issues relating to the registration of life events in the State. Representations and recommendations have been made by various groups and organisations since the enactment of the Civil Registration Act 2004 and this Bill seeks to address these issues. The General Register Office, which administers the Civil Registration Service, has identified areas where legislative amendments are required to streamline the service to the general public. The Department is currently working with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government on the drafting of the heads of a Bill and I hope to introduce legislation early next year.

It should also be noted that the Civil Registration Act 2004 will be further amended through gender recognition legislation which I intend to introduce early next year. I published the General Scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill 2013 on 17 July 2013, following Cabinet approval. The Bill provides for the recognition of the acquired gender of transgender people aged 18 and over and who are not married or in a civil partnership. The General Scheme of the Bill was discussed at hearings of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection last month. Officials from the Department of Social Protection, representative groups and legal and medical experts participated in the hearings. The 2004 Act will be amended to provide for a gender recognition register.

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