Written Answers Nos. 492-506
492. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of vacant and derelict properties and sites that are owned by her Department; her plans to bring each of these properties and sites into use; where no plans are in place, the reasons why; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55053/23]
View answerThe Department of Social Protection does not own any vacant or derelict properties or sites.
With the exception of the Department headquarters in Dublin - Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, Store Street, which is held by the Minister on behalf of the Social Insurance Fund, all buildings and property occupied by the Department of Social Protection, are owned or leased by the Office of Public Works.
494. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will detail, in tabular form a breakdown on a county-by-county basis of the 150,000 school children that will benefit from the expansion of the Hot School Meals Programme. [55065/23]
View answerThe School Meals Programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,700 schools and organisations benefitting 300,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.
Budget 2023 provided €94.4 million for the programme. In February, the Government approved an additional €14.5m to allow access to the Hot School Meals scheme for all remaining DEIS primary schools from September 2023. Budget 2024 has increased the funding by an extra €42.5m.
I am committed to continuing to expand the School Meals Programme and building further on the significant extension of the programme that has taken place in recent years. As part of this significant expansion plan, all remaining primary schools were contacted and requested to submit an expression of interest form if their school is interested in commencing the provision of hot school meals.
Expressions of interests were received from over 900 Primary Schools in respect of 150,000 children and this week these schools were invited to participate in the Hot School Meals Programme from April 2024.
A breakdown on a county-by-county basis of the 150,000 school children that would benefit from the expansion of the Hot School Meals Programme is contained in the attached tabular statement.
I trust this clarifies the matter.
County Breakdown of pupils to receive Hot School Meals from 2024
|
County |
Number of Pupils |
|
Carlow |
1,775 |
|
Cavan |
4,705 |
|
Clare |
4,327 |
|
Cork |
20,822 |
|
Donegal |
3,046 |
|
Dublin |
24,920 |
|
Galway |
9,075 |
|
Kerry |
6,251 |
|
Kildare |
6,943 |
|
Kilkenny |
4,931 |
|
Laois |
4,400 |
|
Leitrim |
918 |
|
Limerick |
7,431 |
|
Longford |
1,279 |
|
Louth |
3,977 |
|
Mayo |
2,935 |
|
Meath |
7,814 |
|
Monaghan |
2,478 |
|
Offaly |
2,560 |
|
Roscommon |
2,842 |
|
Sligo |
342 |
|
Tipperary |
7,548 |
|
Waterford |
1,905 |
|
Westmeath |
4,560 |
|
Wexford |
7,174 |
|
Wicklow |
5,373 |
|
Grand Total |
150,331 |
495. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 350 of 28 November 2023, and the reference what were unequivocally 'test cases' as 'so-called test cases', given the fact that as previously supplied (details supplied) have all unequivocally admitted to the use of test cases in writing, and the fact that test cases were used by the Department raises liability issues for the Department and the continued use of the term 'so-called test cases' by her is preventing legal clarity for workers, if she will now concede that test cases were used and that these test cases were not 'so-called test cases'. [55074/23]
View answerAs outlined in my replies to the Deputy on 14 and 28 November, a number of so-called ‘test cases’ relating to the insurability status of a person were examined by the Department in the 1990s to support the identification of criteria that could be used by Deciding Officers and Appeals Officers when making decisions in relation to the correct class of PRSI applying to an employment. The criteria identified from the examination of these cases formed the basis of the approach subsequently agreed with the Social Partners under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and set out in the Code of Practice for the Determination of the Employment or Self-employment Status of Individuals. These criteria are set out in sections 7 and 8 of the Code of Practice and are applied by Deciding Officers and Appeals Officers on each occasion that they assess the insurability of a worker as being either an employee or self-employed. However, it is important to again stress that employment status decisions are never made by the Department or the Social Welfare Appeals Office without an investigation having been carried out into the actual circumstances of the person's engagement.
497. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide an update on a child benefit application (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55164/23]
View answerChild Benefit is a monthly payment to the parents or guardians of children under 16 years of age. Child Benefit can also be claimed for children aged 16 and 17, if they are in full-time education or full-time training or have a disability and cannot support themselves.
A Child Benefit application was received from the person concerned on 8 November 2023. As one of the parents is employed in the United Kingdom, the claim will have to be decided under the Convention of Social Security between the government of Ireland and the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Additional information is required in this case. On return of this information, the application will be processed and a decision will be made on the claim.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
499. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Social Protection for an update on a carer support grant application (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55170/23]
View answerThe Carer’s Support Grant (CSG) is an annual payment made to full-time carers who satisfy certain conditions.
The person claiming the Grant must:
• Be aged 16 or over and ordinarily resident in this State.
• Care for the person on a full-time basis.
• Care for the person for a continuous period of at least six months – this period must include the first Thursday in June (1st June 2023).
• Live with the person being looked after, or this person can be contacted quickly by a direct system of communication (i.e., a telephone or alarm).
• Not be employed / self-employed for more than 18.5 hours per week.
• Not be in receipt of, or entitled to receive Jobseeker’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Benefit or be signing for credited contributions.
Additionally, the person being cared for must:
• Be so incapacitated as to need full-time care and attention.
• Not normally live in a hospital, convalescent home, or another similar institution.
• Not receive full-time care and attention within their own home from another person other than the person claiming the Grant.
I can confirm that my Department received an application for CSG from the person concerned on 9 November 2023.
In line with the above, the carer may not be working, self-employed, or on a training or education course for more than 18.5 hours a week.
The person concerned declared working hours of 25.5 hours per week and so the Deciding Officer found that the qualifying conditions were not met.
The person concerned was informed of this decision in a letter dated 7 December 2023 and of their right of review and appeal.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
500. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Social Protection her main policy and legislative priorities for 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55215/23]
View answerThere are a number of legislative and policy reforms that I intend to introduce, starting in early 2024:
The Social Welfare (Child Maintenance and Liable Relatives Provisions) Bill, which implements the recommendations of the Child Maintenance Review Group, is a Bill that I intend to bring through the Oireachtas early in the Spring term.
I intend to bring forward legislation to give effect to pay-related benefit and consequent small increases in employers’ and employees’ PRSI rates, on an incremental basis over the next 5 years, to provide sustainable funding for the reforms to the pensions system that are contained in legislation that is currently before the Oireachtas.
The legislation to provide for auto-enrolment of pensions is near completion. It is expected that this Bill will be published early in the new year.
Changes to civil registration legislation, mainly to provide for electronic registration of births and deaths, is at an advanced stage and is expected to be enacted in the first half of next year.
The consultation period for the Green Paper on Disability Payments reform has been extended. This Green Paper is not a final reform design. It is a proposal on what the future of long-term disability payments could look like. It does not claim to be the best way or the only way to change the structure of our payments.
503. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Social Protection the total number of civil service executive officer positions that have been filled in all civil service offices in County Longford from the interdepartmental and open competitions list and also from the mobility transfer list for each month from 31 August 2022 to date, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55255/23]
View answer504. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Social Protection the total number of executive officers who have been assigned to the Department of Social Protection, in County Longford in each month since 31 August 2022 to date for the interdepartmental and open competitions lists, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55257/23]
View answerI propose to take questions Nos. 503 and 504 together.
The Department of Social Protection can provide a response relating to the Department's offices in Longford only. Vacancies are filled nationwide in accordance with central Civil Service sequencing arrangements.
The following table outlines the number and method of filling vacancies in the Department's Longford offices since 31 August, 2022:
|
September 2022 |
Grade |
Location |
Total 5 |
|
Internal Promotion |
EO |
Longford |
2 |
|
Open Competition (Public Appointments Service (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
Inter Departmental Competition |
EO |
Longford |
2 |
|
October 2022 |
Total 11 |
||
|
Internal Promotion |
EO |
Longford |
2 |
|
Open Competition (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
6 |
|
Inter Departmental |
EO |
Longford |
3 |
|
November 2022 |
Total 3 |
||
|
Inter Departmental Competition |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
Open Competition (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
2 |
|
January 2023 |
Total 4 |
||
|
Open Competition (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
2 |
|
Lateral Move |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
Internal Promotion |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
February 2023 |
Total 3 |
||
|
Internal Promotion |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
Inter Departmental Competition |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
Open Competition (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
April 2023 |
Total 3 |
||
|
Internal Promotion |
EO |
Longford |
2 |
|
Mobility |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
May 2023 |
Total 4 |
||
|
Lateral Move |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
Inter Departmental |
EO |
Longford |
3 |
|
June 2023 |
Total 2 |
||
|
Open Competition (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
2 |
|
July 2023 |
Total 2 |
||
|
Open Competition (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
Internal Promotion |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
August 2023 |
Total 1 |
||
|
Internal Promotion |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
|
September 2023 |
Total 1 |
||
|
Open Competition (PAS) |
EO |
Longford |
1 |
505. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Social Protection how many executive officer positions are currently vacant in her Department’s office in County Longford; when these vacancies will be filled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55266/23]
View answerThere are currently no EO vacancies in Department of Social Protection, Longford.
506. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason the mobility transfer list for her Department in County Longford has apparently slowed down since September 2022 to date (details supplied); whether this list has been side-lined; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55272/23]
View answerThe Civil Service mobility scheme allows officers to apply for a transfer between locations through an open, fair, and transparent system. The mobility scheme is open to Civil Servants from within the Department of Social Protection and across Civil Service organisations. The scheme comes under the remit of the Department of Public Expenditure, Reform and National Development plan and is administered by the National Shared Services Office.
Positions in the Department of Social Protection’s offices nationwide are filled via a number of methods including placement from external Public Appointment Service Panels, interdepartmental promotions, internal promotion competitions, lateral mobility and civil service mobility. The sequencing of mobility is based on appointments across the Department's locations nationally. As the Department has made a number of appointments in Longford outside of civil service mobility in recent months, it is planned to prioritise the mobility transfer panel to fill future vacancies as they arise in the coming months.
