Written Answers Nos. 275-282
275. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection what social protection entitlement a person (details supplied) is entitled to while an appeal of their disability allowance is ongoing. [3445/24]
View answerDisability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions.
I confirm that my Department received an application for DA from the person concerned on 6 March 2023. The application was referred to a social welfare inspector (SWI) on 9 March 2023 for a report on the person’s means and circumstances.
The SWI requested travel documents for periods out of state and information regarding how the person concerned was supporting themselves. The SWI returned their report on 22 March 2023.
The person called on 17 April 2023, 20 April 2023, 13 June 2023 and 28 June 2023 requesting an update. As documents were not received, the application was unable to be processed.
As the documents were not returned, this was sent to the SWI for further investigation and the SWI returned their second report on 14 November 2023, to advise that they were unable to contact the customer at address as declared as the address was under renovation and appeared vacant.
Based on the evidence supplied in support of this application, their application for DA was disallowed on the grounds that the medical qualifying condition for the scheme was not satisfied, the person concerned's whereabouts are unknown as per the SWI report, means remain undetermined and no decision could be made on the Habitual Residence Conditions.
The person concerned was notified in writing of this decision on 13 December 2023 and was also notified of their right to request a review of this decision or to appeal it to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO).
To date, no further information has been received in support of this claim, and there has not been a request for a review or appeal of the decision.
In the meantime, the person concerned can apply to the Community Welfare Officer for the means tested Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) if they are in need of financial assistance, while awaiting the outcome of their application.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
276. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of individuals and couples in Westmeath and Longford who are in State-supported homeless accommodation via their local authority but also on reduced rate of jobseeker's. [3457/24]
View answerMy Department cannot provide the information requested as we do not have data on persons in homeless accommodation supplied by a local authority.
277. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Social Protection to confirm if a person (details supplied) has enough paid contributions to make an application for a contributory pension from before she left Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3513/24]
View answerA person must have 520 full-rate paid contributions to qualify for standard State pension (contributory). 520 full-rate contributions equate to 10 years of full-rate insurable employment.According to the records of my Department, the person concerned has 200 reckonable contributions. Since they do not have 520 paid full-rate contributions, they do not qualify for State pension (contributory).
If the person concerned was employed in another EU Member State, or in a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement, they may be entitled to a pro-rata state pension (contributory) based on a combination of their insurance record in another EU Member State, or in a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement, and their Irish insurance record.
Where a person does not satisfy the conditions to qualify for a state pension (contributory), or qualifies for less than the maximum rate, they may instead qualify for one the following:
- The state pension (non-contributory) which is a means-tested, residency-based payment for people of pension age. The maximum personal rate is approximately 95% of the maximum rate of contributory pension; or
- An increase for a qualified adult, equivalent to 90% of the full rate State Pension (contributory) where their spouse is in receipt of this pension
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
278. Deputy Richard O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Social Protection the total number of adults in receipt of disability payments from her Department as of 31 December 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3540/24]
View answerDisability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions .
Blind Pension (BP) is a means tested payment paid to blind people and certain people with low vision, aged 18 and up to the age of 66 who are habitually resident in the State.
Invalidity 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.
Illness Benefit (IB) is the primary short term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance.
The number of persons in receipt of DA, BP, IP and IB at the end of December 2023 are set out in the table below:
|
Scheme |
Number of Recipients at end of December 2023 |
|
DA |
162,351 |
|
BP |
988 |
|
IP |
56,650 |
|
IB |
51,552 |
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
279. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Social Protection whether people who were employed for many years and were farming in a very small way at the same time and then went on illness benefit for a year and a half, are entitled to job seeker's benefit on recovery from the illness affecting them, subject to the normal conditions; and if not the reason they are not entitled to it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3546/24]
View answerA person is not regarded as being unemployed for Jobseeker's Benefit purposes, for any day that they are actively engaged in farming.
If the person is still engaged in farming, they may be entitled to receive Farm Assist subject to satisfying the normal conditions for the payment.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
280. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection if an application for a disability allowance now under review and appeal will be expedited and approved in the name of a person (details supplied).; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3547/24]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered on 16 January 2024. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought.
When these papers have been received from the Department, the case in question will be referred to an Appeals Officer who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if necessary, hold an oral appeal hearing.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
281. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Social Protection if the credit scheme for electricity users will also cover consumers who have a credit built up on their account; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3563/24]
View answerThis is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.
282. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Social Protection if her Department will liaise with the relevant authorities to introduce a school pupils free travel scheme bus pass, similar to the free travel scheme for adults, recognising that children in rural areas can avail of free travel, but not those in urban areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3608/24]
View answerThe Free Travel scheme provides free travel on the main public and private transport services for those eligible under the scheme. There are over one million customers with direct eligibility. The estimated expenditure on free travel in 2024 is €104 million.
The objective of the free travel scheme is to ensure older people and people with disabilities remain active within their community. Extending the eligibility of the free travel scheme to include school children, would change this objective, and radically change the nature of the scheme.
The Department has therefore, no plans to extend the free travel scheme to include school pupils.
The School Transport Scheme supports transport to and from school for children who reside remote from their nearest school. The scheme is under the remit of the Department of Education and any requests for extension of the scheme to those in urban areas should be referred to the Minister for Education.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
