Written Answers Nos. 219-233
219. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection the checks in place to ensure that two companies (details supplied) contracted to provide JobPath services are offering suitable and appropriate employment opportunities to participants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14236/16]
View answer220. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection the annual cost of contracting two companies (details supplied) to deliver JobPath services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14237/16]
View answer221. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection the training that companies (details supplied) contracted to deliver JobBridge undertake to deal with the specific needs of those who are long-term unemployed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14238/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 219, 220 and 221 together.
JobPath will support long-term unemployed people and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Two companies, Turas Nua and Seetec, have been contracted by the Department to deliver JobPath services.
Participants on JobPath receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment and to find jobs. Each person is assigned a personal advisor who assesses their skills, experience, challenges and work goals and agrees a “personal progression plan” that includes a schedule of activities, actions and job focused targets.
Participants are provided with a range of development supports and may also be referred for further education and training opportunities to assist them in finding full-time sustainable employment. Examples of training and development activities include confidence building, motivation, interview preparation, literacy, IT courses and a variety of industry related skill needs. If placed into a job, the companies will continue to provide in-work support to the client for at least three months and up to twelve months while the client remains in employment.
JobPath is a payment by results model and all initial costs are borne by the companies. JobPath is so structured that the companies will not be able to fully recover their costs until they place sufficient numbers of jobseekers into sustainable jobs. The suitability of employment is a key factor in ensuring that jobs are sustainable. It is not intended to publish the individual payments to the JobPath companies as these are commercially sensitive and to do so would place the State at a disadvantage both in terms of the contracts now in place and any future procurement that may be undertaken.
The JobPath companies are subject to regular on-site checks and inspections to ensure that JobPath is delivered in accordance with contractual obligations. The Department will also commission customer satisfaction surveys to independently assess if customers are satisfied with the level, and quality, of service delivered by the contractors. Failure by the contractors to satisfy the Department’s inspectors or to achieve a satisfactory score in the independent survey will result in payment penalties being applied.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
222. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding a debt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14242/16]
View answerThe debt in question occurred as the person concerned was absent from the State without notification to my Department from 5 November 2011 to 27 December 2012. Disability allowance (DA) was disallowed for that period as DA is not payable to persons while outside the State. The person concerned appealed this decision to the Social Welfare Appeal Office (SWAO) but the appeal against the revised decision was disallowed.
My department is obliged to recoup any debt owing to it in an appropriate and timely manner. There are no valid grounds for the balance of this debt to be written off.
The original debt amounted to €24,792 and the balance as at 1 June 2016 is €18,819.20. He is currently repaying €10 per week. The repayment of debt to the department is governed by guidelines. Those guidelines allow for the means and other circumstances of the debtor to be taken into account in deciding upon an appropriate recovery plan. If the person concerned wishes my Department to consider reducing the amount of weekly repayment, they should apply in writing to DA section and include as much information as possible about their weekly outgoings. On receipt of this information, a deciding officer will review the current recovery amount.
223. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the cost of Ireland's NATO Partnership for Peace liaison office in Brussels, Belgium, in each of the years 2011 to 2014. [14046/16]
View answerThe cost of running the Partnership for Peace liaison office in the years 2011 to 2014 is set out in the following table. This figure includes staff costs, office costs, building rental and maintenance and other overheads.
|
Year |
Cost |
|
2011 |
€546,290 |
|
2012 |
€460,051 |
|
2013 |
€439,475 |
|
2014 |
€405,892 |
224. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade why he gave permission for an aeroplane (details supplied) to land at Shannon Airport in County Clare on 25 May 2016 given that it has a range of up to 6,000 nautical miles without refuelling and should have had no need to land there. [14060/16]
View answerThe Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952 gives the Minister for Foreign Affairs primary responsibility for the regulation of activity by foreign military aircraft in Ireland.
Permission must be sought in advance for landings by all foreign military aircraft, including US aircraft, and if granted, is subject to strict conditions. These include stipulations that the aircraft must be unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives and must not engage in intelligence gathering, and that the flights in question must not form part of military exercises or operations.
My Department approved a request to permit a US military C-32B aircraft to land at Shannon airport on 25 May 2016 for re-fuelling, subject to the strict conditions set out above. It is not the policy of my Department to query operational decisions of foreign governments concerning frequency and location of re-fuelling.
225. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 379 of 24 May 2016, as the reply was unclear with regard to whether there is any current legislation that prevents orders being established on structures already under deconstruction, if any legislation exists that prevents buildings and structures from being protected by local authorities once deconstruction works have already commenced. [14082/16]
View answerI refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question No 379 of 24th May, 2016.
No legislation exists to prevent orders being established on protected structures already under de-construction.
226. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she supports proposals from the National Campaign for the Arts for an all-party approach to national cultural policy similar to that adopted by the Minister for Health; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14156/16]
View answerSignificant progress has been made in drafting the first National Cultural Policy - Culture 2025. This followed a major public consultation process in 2015, including a national cultural workshop held in October at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Work by my Department, the expert steering group and a wider expert committee continued on the document in early 2016 and is currently ongoing.
The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the publication of Culture 2025 as a priority and I intend to submit the draft policy to Government for consideration in the coming weeks. As I have stated previously, this first such policy will be a living document and will form the basis of an ongoing dialogue with all who are interested in cultural policy. I look forward to consideration of Culture 2025 by the Oireachtas following its publication and would very much welcome the adoption of an all-party approach in this matter.
227. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of vacancies on the boards of the Arts Council and national cultural institutions; when she will fill them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14159/16]
View answerThe information sought by the Deputy is provided in the following table. I would point out that the National Archives of Ireland has an Advisory Council rather than a Board.
The Public Appointments Service operates a dedicated website, www.stateboards.ie, through which it advertises vacancies on State Boards. Arrangements are currently in train in cooperation with the Public Appointments Service to fill all of the vacancies listed. There are no vacancies on the boards of the other National Cultural Institutions.
|
Institution |
Number of vacancies on Board |
|
National Museum of Ireland |
13 to 15 |
|
National Gallery of Ireland |
5 |
|
National Archives of Ireland |
10 |
|
National Concert Hall |
9 |
|
Crawford Art Gallery |
7 |
|
Arts Council |
3 |
228. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of patient hoists located at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, and whether one is permanently located in its emergency department. [14010/16]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and my officials will follow the matter up.
229. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of Health Service Executive staff on sick leave due to work-related stress. [14011/16]
View answerI have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
230. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of Health Service Executive staff in County Louth on sick leave due to work-related stress. [14012/16]
View answerI have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
231. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of Health Service Executive staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, on sick leave due to work-related stress. [14013/16]
View answerI have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
232. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Health the number of Health Service Executive staff who were on sick leave due to work related stress for any period in each of the years 2013 to 2016 to date. [14014/16]
View answerI have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly on this matter. If you have not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
233. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the status of the personal identification number of a nurse (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14024/16]
View answerI wish to thank the Deputy for the matter raised.
Given that this is an operational matter, it is appropriate that it should be dealt with by the NMBI. I have referred the Deputy's question to the NMBI for attention and direct reply.
If you have not received a reply from the NMBI within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office and they will follow up the matter with them.
