Written Answers Nos. 99 - 114
99. Deputy Dan Neville asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of payment to a person (details supplied) in County Limerick under the illness benefit scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1836/16]
View answerThe person concerned was in receipt of illness benefit from 30 Sept 2015 to 28 Nov 2015 and they submitted a final cert confirming they were fit to resume work on 30 Nov 2015. The person concerned submitted a fresh claim for illness benefit from 30 Nov 2015 and this claim was received in my department on 4 Dec 2015. In the meantime the person concerned was in receipt of supplementary welfare allowance and as such it is necessary to adjust this payment in advance of payment of illness benefit. This has now been done. The person concerned has been transferred to monthly certs and the next cert is due on 8 Feb 2016.
101. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection why a person (details supplied) in County Mayo was not considered for an invalidity pension after their disability benefit payment ceased; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1925/16]
View answerInvalidity pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the pay-related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. To qualify for IP claimants must, inter-alia, have at least 260 (5 years) paid PRSI contributions since entering social insurance and 48 contributions paid or credited in the last complete contribution year before the date of their claim. Only PRSI classes A, E or H contributions are reckonable for IP purposes.
To date there is no record in the department of receipt of a claim for IP from the person in question.
According to the department’s records, it appears that the person concerned does not satisfy the PRSI contribution criteria for IP. However entitlement to IP can be definitively determined on receipt of a completed claim form.
102. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of an application under the carer's allowance scheme by persons (details supplied) in County Cork in November 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1933/16]
View answerI confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person concerned on 3 December 2015. Once processed, the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
103. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Clare under the disability allowance scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1976/16]
View answerThe person in question is in receipt of disability allowance (DA).
Following a recent routine review of entitlement, the department is satisfied that the conditions for the scheme continue to be met by the person in question. Payment of DA continued to the person in question while the review was underway.
104. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will change the qualifying criteria for training support grants to enable those availing of education under the National Framework of Qualifications level 7 to receive payment at that level, rather than currently as at level 6; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1981/16]
View answerThe Training Support Grant (TSG) is designed to fund quick access to short-term training where this cannot be provided by a state provider within a reasonable time or where an intervention is identified that can support individual jobseekers to access work opportunities.
This scheme is not designed to provide general or more structured training for jobseekers. Access to the scheme is via the Department’s case officers who are tasked with identifying support interventions for jobseekers, particularly where a job opportunity has been identified or where an intervention will enable an application for work to be made.
The scheme is activation focused and the jobseeker is required to provide reasonable evidence or grounds of need (for example in the form of a potential job offer) or a requirement to maintain or achieve accreditation, for example, certain certification such as required to work in particular sectors such as construction, catering or the caring sectors. Courses above Level 6 on the QQI do not fall within the ambit of this scheme. Courses above Level 6 are supported under the Department’s Back to Education Programme.
105. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Limerick who has recently won an appeal under the disability allowance scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1982/16]
View answerThe person concerned has been awarded disability allowance with effect from 24 June 2015, following a successful appeal. The first payment will be made by her chosen payment method on 10 February 2016. In the interim, she has been in receipt of supplementary welfare allowance.
Arrears of payment due will issue as soon as possible once any necessary adjustment is calculated and applied in respect of any overlapping payments or in respect of outstanding overpayments (if applicable).
106. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in Dublin 8 will be granted a further one year extension of a community employment scheme placement. [1985/16]
View answerThe Community Employment Programme is a labour market intervention designed to assist the long term unemployed return to the work force. The term for participants on Community Employment has been set at 6 cumulative years (312 weeks) for persons of 55 years of age up to State Pension age by the Department.
The person concerned has been a participant on the Canal Communities Training Programme (CE) scheme for 4.75 years, an extension request has been received from her employer so that her participation may be extended up to State Pension age. This extension request has now been granted.
107. Deputy Kieran O'Donnell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of applicants in receipt of invalidity pension in Limerick city and county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1986/16]
View answerInvalidity pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the contribution conditions.
As of December 31, 2015 there were 3,242 recipients of IP residing in the County of Limerick, including Limerick city.
A separate figure for the number of IP recipients in Limerick city is not maintained.
108. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the full-year cost of making all Intreo offices and services accessible to persons with disabilities by the end of 2016; the cost of providing disability training to all staff who are not already trained in disability awareness; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1989/16]
View answerThe Office of Public Works is charged with ensuring that all Intreo Centres comply with building regulations and disability legislation. With regard to access, and in particular access for persons with disabilities, over the past 4 years the OPW refurbished and remodelled 60 Social Welfare Local Offices into Intreo Centres and/or acquired new premises in some locations. In most locations, the buildings would have already complied with the relevant aspect of the Building Regulations. All costs associated with providing disability access to buildings would have been absorbed in the overall costs of refurbishment of Intreo Centres.
The Department offers a suite of disability awareness training to its staff including Disability Awareness, Mental Health Awareness and Deaf Awareness. E-learning courses from the National Disability Authority (NDA) and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) are available free to all staff via links on the Department’s staff development intranet site. All new staff in DSP are made aware of disability issues during induction.
Under the One DSP Learning initiative, introduced in 2015, a module covering Employment Supports for People with a Disability is available to Case Officers. This module covers all the grants and supports available for both jobseekers and employers with regard to people with a disability. This will continue to be available for Case Officers in 2016. In addition, a focused training day for 70 Case Officers will take place in February in conjunction with the National Disability Authority (NDA). Topics will include a general overview of disability; introduction to disability awareness; an overview of the NDA website and on-line training tool and disability-specific information using a case study.
It is estimated that the cost of providing disability awareness training to all staff in the Department would be approximately €150,000.
109. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the full year cost in 2016 of increasing the disability allowance by €6, €7, €7.50 and €8 per week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1990/16]
View answerDisability Allowance is a means-tested social assistance paid to persons who are substantially restricted in undertaking suitable employment arising from a medical condition (subject to satisfying the relevant medical criteria). The estimated cost in 2016 of increasing the weekly rate of Disability Allowance by €6.00, €7.00, €7.50 and €8.00 is detailed in the following table.
|
Increase in the weekly rate |
Estimated Cost in 2016 (full year) |
|
€6.00 |
€39.5 million |
|
€7.00 |
€46.1 million |
|
€7.50 |
€49.4 million |
|
€8.00 |
€52.6 million |
There is an analogous social insurance payment, Invalidity Pension, which is paid to persons who are permanently incapable of work (subject to satisfying the relevant medical criteria). A €1 increase in the weekly rate of Invalidity Pension would cost €3.2 million in a full year.
These costs include proportionate increases for qualified adults, where applicable.
110. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection how many community employment schemes and how many places on these schemes are available in counties Galway and Mayo; the average cost of providing one place on a CE scheme for a person over 55 years of age; the equivalent cost of providing social protection for that same person; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1995/16]
View answerThere are 71 Community Employment (CE) Schemes with 1,479 places in Galway, and 37 CE schemes with 849 places in Mayo as at 14 January 2015.
The average annual cost of a CE place for one year, including income support and all other costs such as training fees, material costs and Supervision is approximately €15,000.
The average annual payment value for jobseeker's allowance (JA) for 2015 is just over €10,200.
CE has a standard minimum rate of payment of €210.50 per week while jobseeker’s allowance has a means assessment and the rate received will depend on the relevant means assessed against the payment.
As there are different rules applying to CE and JA payments, it is not possible to provide an exact equivalent cost without having a specific case to compare.
111. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to supply details, in tabular form, of the funding allocated to and the actual expenditure by the sign language interpreting service from 2012 to 2015, inclusive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2030/16]
View answerThe Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body responsible for supporting the provision of information, advice (including money and budgeting advice) and advocacy services to all citizens on a wide range of public and social services.
The Sign Language Interpreting Service (SLIS), which is funded by CIB, is the national agency for the provision of sign language interpreting services in Ireland and seeks to ensure that quality interpretation services are available to deaf people in Ireland, so that they can access public and social services.
The budget allocation and actual expenditure in each of the past four years is set out below.
|
Sign Language Interpreting Service |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
|
Grant allocation |
€285,000 |
€284,658 |
€275,000 |
€275,000 |
|
Expenditure |
€264,975 |
€323,064 |
€292,193 |
€284,498 |
112. Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection why a person (details supplied) in County Dublin was refused a jobseeker's allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2039/16]
View answerThe person concerned submitted an application for jobseeker’s allowance with effect from 14 October 2015. In addition to a number of other qualifying conditions, a person must satisfy the condition of being habitually resident in the state. The application was disallowed on the basis that the person concerned was not deemed to be habitually resident in the state. It is open to the person concerned to seek a review of this decision or to appeal the decision to the independent social welfare appeals office.
113. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2054/16]
View answerInvalidity pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions.
A claim for IP was received from the person concerned on the 10 December 2015. In order to assist with the assessment of the person’s medical suitability for IP, two forms for completion issued to the person concerned on the 12 January 2016. On receipt of the completed forms, the IP claim will be processed as quickly as possible and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
The Department advises the person concerned to ensure that full and complete details of his/her medical condition(s), treatments, investigations, specialist reports etc are furnished at the outset to ensure a good quality decision on his claim and to avoid unnecessary delay.
114. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of applicants who received payment of the water conservation grant in 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2068/16]
View answerThe Department of Social Protection is administering the Water Conservation Grant on behalf of the Department of Environment, Community, and Local Government. A total of 887,127 householders have been paid the 2015 Water Conservation Grant to date. These payments amount to €88,712,700. A small number of residual applications from householders who meet the 2015 eligibility criteria continue to be processed.
