Written Answers Nos. 55-61
55. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if consideration may be given for rent support in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40859/14]
View answerAs detailed to the Deputy in reply to Parliamentary Question No 135 of 17 September 2014, the client’s rent is well in excess of the maximum limit of €575 appropriate to his family composition and location. The Department is not aware of a rent reduction or alternative accommodation being sourced within the maximum applicable limit. Should this happen entitlement can be assessed.
56. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will ensure that rent support will be maintained at its existing level in the case of persons (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40860/14]
View answerThe client's Rent Supplement of €700 per month is in excess of the maximum limit of €500 applicable to their family composition and location. Following review, the client is requested to secure a rent reduction or source alternate accommodation within the maximum limits. The clients are being given the statutory allocation of 13 weeks to do so. Their Rent Supplement will remain in payment until 31 December 2014.
57. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if and when family income supplement is payable in respect of one remaining child still in full-time education in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40872/14]
View answer58. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the extent to which their welfare support has been reduced in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40873/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 58 together.
The family income supplement (FIS) is designed to provide support for employees with families, who have low earnings. It is a condition for receipt of FIS that the claimant must have at least one qualified child who normally resides with them. A qualified child is one under the age of 18 or one between the ages of 18 and 22 who is attending full-time education by day. Entitlement to FIS is renewed each year on the anniversary of the original claim.
Once the appropriate rate of FIS due is determined it generally continues to be payable at that same rate for a period of 52 weeks, provided that the person remains in full-time employment. The two principal exceptions to this are where there is an additional qualified child in the family or (with effect from July 2013) where payment of One-parent Family (OFP) ceases due to the youngest child reaching the OFP age threshold. The person concerned was originally awarded FIS from October 2008. Accordingly, her 52 week entitlement period ran from October to October each year. She ceased to claim OFP in June 2013 for a reason other than her youngest child reaching the OFP age threshold. This was during her 52 week entitlement period from October 2013 to October 2014. She was not entitled to an increase in her FIS entitlement at that time. The legislative provision allowing for a review of FIS is effective only from July 2013 and covers the loss of OFP arising from the youngest child reaching the OFP age threshold and no other reason.
The person concerned applied to have her FIS renewed from October 2013. As her income had reduced due to the fact that she was no longer in receipt of OFP, her FIS rate was increased by €132 per week from the previous year. Her youngest child reached the age of 22 years in February 2014 however, in accordance with the regulations, FIS continued to be paid at the same rate until her next renewal date (October 2014). The person concerned applied to have her FIS renewed from October 2014, however, the claim was refused as the person concerned no longer had a qualified child under the age of 22.
59. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the public services and semi-State companies under the remit of her Department that deliver bonuses to staff that need improvement. [41124/14]
View answerThe agencies that operate under the aegis of the Department are the Pensions Authority and the Citizens Information Board. The Office of the Pensions Ombudsman also falls under the remit of the Department.
There are no bonus payments made to any staff in the organisations concerned.
60. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Finance in view of the significant increase approved by the Commission for Energy Regulation in the amount of PSO levied on electricity customers; and if he will consider a review of the application of VAT to the PSO element of electricity bills which effectively amounts to double taxation. [40774/14]
View answerWith regard to the application of VAT on electricity bills, in accordance with section 37(1) of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010, the amount on which VAT is chargeable is the total consideration receivable by the supplier, "including all taxes, commissions, costs and charges whatsoever", but not including the VAT itself. This reflects EU VAT law, with which Irish tax law must comply. In this regard, Article 78 of the EU VAT Directive provides that the taxable amount shall include "taxes, duties, levies and charges, excluding the VAT itself".
In this respect, where the charge for a supply of service, such as an electricity bill, includes the Public Service Obligation levy, VAT law dictates that VAT should be calculated on the PSO levy element of the charge as well as the charge for the service. The same situation applies in the case of other excises, including for example excises on petrol, auto-diesel, tobacco and alcohol products.
With regard to the level of the PSO levy, my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, informs me that the levy has been in place since 2001 and is the overall support mechanism for electricity generation constructed for security of supply purposes, including peat generation, and for the development of renewable electricity. It is levied on electricity customers only. There is no PSO levy associated with gas bills. The levy is designed to compensate electricity suppliers for the additional costs they incur by purchasing electricity generated by PSO funded producers. The PSO levy is vital to enable Ireland to meet its 2020 40% target for electricity generated from renewable sources by 2020, which in turn is important for the achievement of Ireland's 16% EU 2020 target for renewable energy.
The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further informs me that the biggest driver for the levy rise for this year is the lower predicted wholesale market electricity price, which is currently estimated to be around 10% lower than last year. This results in lower predicted market income for the PSO plants and, therefore, a higher levy is required to cover their allowed costs. The lower wholesale electricity price is currently being driven by lower international gas prices in evidence since spring 2014. This drives up the proposed PSO levy. However, if these lower gas and wholesale prices are sustained, it will reduce the wholesale cost of electricity that suppliers pay. In turn, suppliers should be in a position to reduce their retail prices and potentially offset the PSO levy increase. Increased competition in the retail electricity sector recently should help offset some of this increase. The Commission for Energy Regulation is tasked with retail market monitoring and executes this role vigorously to ensure competition leads to the fairest prices for customers.
61. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide in tabular form the number of cars registered between 2004 and 2014; and the figure numerically and per capita. [40707/14]
View answerThe following table indicates the number of used and new motor cars registered (gross) between 2004 and 2014, and the number of used and new gross registrations of motor cars per capita. The figures for 2014 are for January to August 2014.
The population figures used are from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) website. The population figures for 2012 and 2013 are preliminary, and the population figure for 2014 is estimated.
|
Year |
No. of Gross Registrations |
Gross registrations per capita |
|
2004 |
178,070 |
0.044 |
|
2005 |
213,682 |
0.052 |
|
2006 |
234,592 |
0.055 |
|
2007 |
246,380 |
0.056 |
|
2008 |
213,599 |
0.048 |
|
2009 |
106,410 |
0.023 |
|
2010 |
129,327 |
0.028 |
|
2011 |
131,286 |
0.029 |
|
2012 |
120,386 |
0.026 |
|
2013 |
125,376 |
0.027 |
|
2014 |
128,099 |
0.028 |
