Seán Sherlock
Question:588. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Cork will continue to be paid the carer’s allowance upon the recent death of their spouse. [31851/22]
View answerSocial Welfare Eligibility
Questions (588)
Written answers
Firstly, may I take this opportunity to extend my condolences to the person concerned and their family on their recent bereavement.
Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.
When a care recipient dies, there is a continued payment of Carer's Allowance for 12 weeks after the death. The Carers Allowance payment for the person concerned will continue up until 17 August 2022 with the final payment being available at the post office from 11 August 2022.
I can confirm that the weekly payment of Carer's Allowance for the person concerned has continued to issue to their nominated Post Office. Their next payment will be payable from 16 June 2022.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
Social Welfare Eligibility
Questions (589)
Brendan Griffin
Question:589. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Social Protection when a detailed medical report in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry will be forwarded to the Dutch authorities by the invalidity pension medical review and assessment section; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31876/22]
View answerWritten answers
The detailed medical report in respect of the person referred to has been forwarded to the Dutch authorities by the invalidity pension section by post on 15 June 2022.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
Ukraine War
Questions (590)
Michael Creed
Question:590. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will outline the application form, details and processes involved in applying for the €400 a month payment for those who are offering accommodation to citizens from Ukraine fleeing the war; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31880/22]
View answerWritten answers
The Government has approved a monthly flat rate recognition payment of €400 per property in respect of individual properties (shared or vacant) to those who provide accommodation for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. My Department will administer the payment on behalf of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
The recognition payment will be conditional on a minimum time commitment for hosting (6 months), with payments continuing for hosting arrangements beyond this timeframe. Payments will be backdated for those providing accommodation since the outbreak of the conflict.
The payment is a ‘recognition payment’, that is, a financial contribution that recognises the generosity of those who have opened their homes to those fleeing the war in Ukraine. The payment will be available to all people hosting those who have arrived here from Ukraine, irrespective of whether this arrangement was made privately and directly or made through the Irish Red Cross pledge process.
The rate is not related to any specific named additional costs or category of costs incurred. The payment will be exempt from income tax and excluded from any means testing for other schemes of State supports.
It is intended to have the necessary legislation to enable the payment in place by mid-July.
Officials in my Department are working with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Department of Justice to input to the necessary legislation and are developing the administrative and IT systems to support this important payment. People will be able to apply for the payment online through my Department’s MyWelfare.ie service once the necessary legislation is in place. Payment will be made monthly in arrears, and it is intended that the first payments will issue in August.
I trust that this clarifies matters for the Deputy.
Gender Recognition
Questions (591)
Mairéad Farrell
Question:591. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on the status of her Department providing the option to include non-binary as a gender option under the Gender Recognition Act 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32033/22]
View answerWritten answers
The Programme for Government - Our Shared Future, contains a number of actions with respect to gender recognition. My Department is engaged in progressing these actions. This work is ongoing across Government Departments and public bodies on evaluating the impact of changes required to ensure recognition of non-binary people. To this end, all Departments and public bodies have been asked to progress positive actions to give effect to:
- promoting the use and acceptance of correct pronouns;
- improving the design of official forms and documentation to permit the use of a third gender option, or no gender at all, where it is possible to do so.
The Deputy will appreciate that some of the work being undertaken may result in proposals to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2015 which will be considered by Government in due course.
I trust that this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
Gender Recognition
Questions (592)
Mairéad Farrell
Question:592. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on the work her Department is doing to introduce legislation to enable those under 18 years of age to obtain a gender recognition certificate with parental approval; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32034/22]
View answerWritten answers
The Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, contains a number of commitments with respect to gender recognition. These follow recommendations contained in the Report of the Review Group for the Gender Recognition Act, which was completed in July 2018. The previous Government signaled its intention to legislate to give effect to this recommendation of the Review Group with respect to a person aged 16 and 17. Legislation is currently being drafted.
Citizens Information Services
Questions (593)
Seán Sherlock
Question:593. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of a citizens information centre (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32081/22]
View answerWritten answers
The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is a statutory independent body as set out in the Comhairle Act 2010 which operates under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection. CIB provides funding to 22 companies in order to deliver services on its behalf. This includes eight CIS companies that operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres, including South Munster CIS, which encompasses Cobh. These eight companies are fully responsible for the delivery of services and all related operational matters including office opening hours in their respective regions.
My Department has been informed that the Cobh CIC office is currently open 1.5 days per week, Monday and half-day Wednesdays with an Information Officer in attendance. Phone and email queries from the Cobh area are dealt with Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm. Face to face appointments are offered as required in Cork city CIC and also in Youghal CIC. Appointments at the Cobh office can be facilitated for customers who may face challenges attending at Cork or Youghal.
Additionally, the Citizens Information Phone Service (CIPS) is a nationwide service that can be reached on 0818 07 4000, Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm.
South Munster CIS is currently recruiting volunteer reception cover to facilitate drop in and appointments across their services and reviewing its service footprint to better support the public across the South Munster Region. The inclusion of volunteers for Cobh CIC will be dependent on the outcome of this process.
Each CIS company is responsible for all matters and decisions relating to its staff and operations, including how it delivers its services to citizens.
Social Welfare Payments
Questions (594)
Michael Healy-Rae
Question:594. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of arrears for a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32144/22]
View answerWritten answers
The state pension non-contributory claim of the person concerned was reviewed on 8 June 2022. The person was awarded pension with effect from 4 February 2022, the Friday immediately following their 66th birthday. A notification issued to the person concerned, advising them of the decision and confirming that a specified arrears amount would issue shortly.
The arrears balance comprises the total state pension non-contributory entitlement due to the person concerned for the period 4 February to 9 June 2022, less the amount of increase for qualified adult already paid in respect of the person concerned, on their spouse's social welfare payment, over the same period. A letter has issued to the person concerned detailing the calculation of the arrears.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Social Welfare Schemes
Questions (595)
Cathal Crowe
Question:595. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason Turas Nua is putting the onus on a social welfare recipient to share the status of their employment, when this information already exists within the Department of Social Protection; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32207/22]
View answerWritten answers
The person is not under any obligation to provide employment or employer details to the JobPath provider but, if they wish to do so and avail of the in-employment support offered, all information will be treated confidentially. It is not necessarily the case that the Department holds employment history of all individuals who are referred to the JobPath service.
JobPath providers work with the referred person to identify and overcome barriers to employment, this may include a review of past work history. In addition, the JobPath providers are required to offer in-work support to the person for up to twelve months while they remain in employment. This includes scheduled contact with the person as well as ad-hoc contact should they need immediate support or advice. This may be particularly important for those in temporary or part-time employment to provide the specific support needed to progress to more sustainable permanent employment.
Social Welfare Schemes
Questions (596)
Cathal Crowe
Question:596. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Social Protection if she and her officials will address an anomaly with Turas Nua, whereby those that work in unconventional structures, for example arts professionals, are unable to select their type of freelance seasonal employment on their applications (details supplied). [32208/22]
View answerWritten answers
Turas Nua is contracted by my Department to provide support and assistance to jobseekers seeking full time employment. This support is delivered through one to one intensive engagement with a case worker who will assist the jobseeker to identify and overcome barriers to employment. There is no barrier placed by Turas Nua or any other activation service of my Department on what employment a jobseeker may wish to pursue.
For the Deputy's information, the jobseeker's allowance for self employed professional artists was introduced to assist self-employed artists who are temporarily in need of additional income support but wish to continue as a professional artist. Any customers engaged with JobPath and who subsequently meet the criteria as a self-employed professional artist can be cancelled from the JobPath programme.
If the customer contacts their local Intreo Centre they will assess their circumstances to determine if they satisfy the criteria and if so, they can be withdrawn from the JobPath service.
Social Welfare Payments
Questions (597)
Gary Gannon
Question:597. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection if there is currently a backlog of applications for the one-parent family payment; if so, the number of applications in the backlog; and the average time for processing a one parent family payment application.; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32448/22]
View answerWritten answers
Currently the average time to decide an One Parent Family application by my Department is two weeks and there is no backlog of OFP claims.
In general once a claim is received it is reviewed by a Deciding Officer within 72 hours. The time taken for a claim to be decided will vary depending on the individual case, as the officer may need to request more information from the customer before they can make a decision.
At present all OFP claims received up to and including the 17th of June are in progress with an officer.
Social Welfare Payments
Questions (598)
Gary Gannon
Question:598. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection the way that income from scholarships (details supplied) bursaries, stipend or scholarships for PhDs is treated to ensure that it is disregarded for persons in receipt of the disability allowance and blind pensions. [32449/22]
View answerWritten answers
The social protection system includes a variety of social assistance payments with different rules in relation to means testing, reflecting the different contingencies under which payments are made. The means assessment reflects the fact that there is an expectation that people with reasonable amounts of income or capital are in a position to use these resources to support themselves so that social welfare expenditure can be directed towards those who need it most.
The Department of Social Protection encourages social welfare recipients to avail of education and training through the Back to Education scheme, as well as by referrals to Education and Training Board courses through the Department's Intreo service. In addition, income received from the SUSI grant is disregarded in the means test for most social welfare schemes.
There are also a number of scholarships, such as those awarded by certain charitable organisations, which are not assessed as part of the means test for social welfare payments.
These include payments under the 1916 Bursary Fund and under Higher Educational Scholarships for Adult Learners from Uversity to a maximum of €7,000 per annum. Uversity is a registered charity that has been awarding Higher Education Scholarships to adult learners since 2018. For Disability Allowance and Blind Pension, the disregard includes any amount of a bursary, scholarship or stipend awarded for completion of Doctoral Degree studies at an approved institution up to a maximum of €20,000 per year.
Other scholarships where a disregard is not provided for in legislation would be assessed as income.
Disregards across all of the Department's schemes are kept under constant review and any changes will be considered in a policy and budgetary context.
I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.
Social Welfare Benefits
Questions (599)
Brendan Griffin
Question:599. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Social Protection when a disability allowance application will be processed for a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32453/22]
View answerWritten answers
I can confirm that my department received an application for disability allowance (DA) from this person on 26 May 2022.
On 16 June 2022 the person concerned was requested to supply supporting documentation required by the deciding officer in order to make a decision on their eligibility. On receipt of this information a decision will be made on their DA application and the person concerned will be notified of the outcome.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Social Welfare Benefits
Questions (600)
Brendan Griffin
Question:600. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Social Protection if a decision has been made on an application for a State pension (contributory) by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32522/22]
View answerWritten answers
The person concerned will reach pension age on 01 July 2022. Their application for State pension (contributory) was received on 07 June 2022.
According to the records of my Department, the person concerned has a total of 520 qualifying paid social insurance contributions from their date of entry into insurable employment 01/01/2012 to December 2021. This gives an entitlement to the maximum rate State pension contributory from 01 July 2022. They were notified in writing of this decision on 16 June 2022.
I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
Citizens Information Services
Questions (601)
James O'Connor
Question:601. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans for the Citizens Information offices in the Cork east constituency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32523/22]
View answerWritten answers
The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body with responsibility for the Citizens Information Service (CIS). CIB provides funding to eight CIS companies that operate a national network of Citizens Information Centres.
Each CIS is a limited company overseen by a board of directors and makes decisions independently on the delivery of services in their regions.
South Munster Citizens Information Services are responsible for the delivery of services across County Cork and Kerry and have advised my Department that phone and email services are currently available in offices in the Cork East constituency. Appointments are also offered as required, and drop-in services are currently available in a number of offices throughout the region.
South Munster is currently recruiting and training volunteers to provide cover to support the delivery of drop-in and in-person services across the region.
Each CIS company is responsible for all matters and decisions relating to its staff and operations, including how it delivers its services to citizens.