Written Answers Nos 1476-1495
1476. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to extend eligibility for child benefit to those children over 18 years of age that are still in full time secondary education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16680/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraChild Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to almost 628,000 families in respect of over 1.2 million children, with an estimated expenditure of more than €2 billion in 2018.
Given the universality of Child Benefit, extending entitlement to parents of full time students in second level education who are over 18 years of age would not be a targeted approach. The adoption of such a proposal would have significant cost implications and would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.
Families on low incomes can avail of a number of social welfare schemes that support children in full-time education until the age of 22, including:
- Increase for a Qualified Child (IQCs) with primary social welfare payments;
- the Working Family Payment (formerly Family Income Supplement) for low-paid employees with children;
- the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance for low income families (paid at the full-time second-level education rate).
As part of the measures under Budget 2018, the qualified child payment which is paid each week to families with children was increased from €29.80 to €31.80 for each child. This is an increase of 6.7%, and will benefit over 400,000 children.
The Working Family Payment earnings thresholds were also increased by €10 per week for families with up to three children. This will particularly benefit low-income working families.
These schemes provide targeted assistance that is directly linked to household income and thereby support low-income families with older children participating in full-time education.
Given the above, I have no plans to extend eligibility for Child Benefit to those children over 18 years of age that are still in full time secondary education.
1477. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when legislation will be brought forward to give effect to the approach that was announced to correct the anomalies in relation to contributory pensions post-2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16686/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe new interim Total Contributions Approach to determining the level of pay, including the introduction of the new HomeCaring credit, for recipients of the State Pension (contributory) affected by the 2012 rate band changes was agreed by the Government in January.
Instructions for legislation to give effect to this change are currently being set out. When drafted, the legislation will be brought forward at the next available opportunity. Changes in payment level for those pensioners who benefit will be effective from 30 March 2018.
Plans for legislation to introduce a Total Contributions Approach for all new pensioners from 2020 onwards will be brought to Government following a public consultation later this year.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
1478. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the circumstances under which or reason a person can avail of ten years credited contributions, which is distinct from the 20 years allowed for home making and caring duties, in relation to the total contributions approach for the contributory pension (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16687/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraPRSI contributions can be credited to people in a number of contexts, for example when in receipt of a Jobseekers or Illness benefit payments. Where applicable, these may be used towards PRSI-based social protection payments, including the State pension contributory. To qualify for a credit you must have worked and paid at least one PRSI contribution at PRSI Class A, B, C, D, E, or H and have paid or credited contributions in either of the last two completed tax years. Not all credits are reckonable for a State pension contributory.
Under the interim Total Contributions Approach announced in January, a person who reached pension age after 1 September 2012 and has a 40 year record of paid and credited social insurance contributions, subject to a maximum of 20 years of credits, will qualify for a maximum contributory pension where they satisfy the other qualifying conditions for the scheme.
Up to 20 years of HomeCaring credits, and/or 10 years of other qualifying credits, for example when unemployed or ill, may be used, subject to the total number of credits not exceeding 20 years.
So, for example, a person might receive a maximum pension based on 20 years paid PRSI contributions, 5 years jobseeker credits, and 15 years HomeCaring Credits, over a 50 year period.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
1479. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the number years in addition to the number of months a person has worked will be taken into consideration under the total contribution approach to calculating entitlement to the contributory pension (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16688/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe interim Total Contributions Approach (TCA) which will apply to those affected by the change in rate bands in September 2012, and before the full TCA comes in from 2020, will see entitlements based on the pensioner’s total contributions. While the details regarding the operation of the scheme have to be finalised, and based on a total of 40 years of contributions (comprising both qualifying and credited contributions), someone with 36 years and 8 months contributions would be expected to receive a pension of approximately 91.67%, and someone with 36 years and 4 months would be expected to receive a pension of approximately 90.83%. This does not take into consideration any additional credited contributions either party may be entitled to depending on their particular circumstances. It will be possible to give details of payment rates only when the legislation has been finalised and the particular personal records have been examined.
The details of the Total Contributions Approach to determining rate of pay to those who reach state pension age from 2020 onwards will be finalised following a public consultation with relevant stakeholders over the coming months.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
1480. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when an application by a person (details supplied) will be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16692/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from this lady on 1 February 2018. Applications received in late January early February 2018 are currently being finalised. The application will be considered by a deciding officer and the decision notified as soon as possible.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
1482. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to introduce a non-means tested grant for children's funerals under 16 years of age in view of the tragic circumstances that surround such occasions and the limited nature of the exceptional needs payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16717/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided over €36 million for exceptional and urgent needs payments in 2018.
An ENP is a means tested payment payable at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance.
An application can be made under the ENP scheme for assistance with funeral and burial expenses where there is an inability to pay these costs, in part or in full, by the family of the deceased person without causing hardship. In 2017 almost 2,800 ENPs were paid at a cost of €5.1 million towards funeral and burial expenses.
There are no current plans to introduce a grant scheme as outlined by the Deputy. The introduction of any new scheme would have to be considered in a budgetary context and within the scope of the overall resources available for welfare improvements. However should the Deputy be aware of a case which may require an ENP to assist with the cost of a funeral for a child under age 16 years, the family should be advised to contact their local community welfare service who may be able to offer assistance.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
1483. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the operation of the invalidity pension and the payment of partial capacity benefit with regard to a person being assessed for PCB that is only able to get insecure casual work will be reviewed (details supplied); if the scheme will be reviewed to allow for variations in earnings resulting from casual work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16727/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraPartial Capacity Benefit (PCB) is a scheme which allows a person return to employment if they have a reduced capacity for work while continuing to receive a payment from my department. A person who applies for PCB will, in the first instance, be assessed by a medical assessor who assesses the degree of capacity. If awarded, PCB will allow them to continue to receive a percentage of their Illness Benefit (IB) or Invalidity Pension (IP) payment while working. Participation in the PCB scheme is voluntary and to apply a person must be in receipt of either IP or IB (for at least six months at the date of application). Payment of PCB lasts for as long as the customer has an underlying entitlement to payment of IB or IP.
The rate of payment depends on the personal rate of the qualifying scheme (IB or IP) from which the customer originates and the medical assessment of the customer’s capacity for work. A person medically assessed as profound will qualify for 100% of the qualifying payment while, a person medically assessed as severe or moderate will qualify for 75% or 50% , of the underlying payment respectively.
PCB is paid in addition to and is independent of a person’s income from employment and given the objectives of the scheme, it would not be appropriate to vary the payment by level of earnings.
1484. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when an exceptional needs payment will issue in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16730/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn exceptional needs payment towards the cost of funeral expenses, in the case of the person concerned, was approved on 23/3/18. A payment was issued by cheque to the person concerned on 5/4/2018.
I trust this clarifies the mater for the Deputy.
1485. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the statutory basis for the fuel allowance scheme, the household benefits package and the free travel scheme. [16771/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe fuel allowance scheme, the household benefits scheme and the free travel scheme are non-statutory schemes which are operated by my Department. The schemes were introduced and extended by Ministerial Announcement.
Decisions in relation to applications for non-statutory schemes are made by Officers of my Department based on published guidelines setting out the conditions of entitlement in detail.
There are currently no plans to place the non-statutory schemes on a statutory basis. The major advantage of schemes being on a non-statutory basis is that they can be modified without needing a legislative change in response to customer needs, subject to the availability of resources. A recent example of this was the double week payment of fuel allowance during the cold weather event at the start of March.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
1486. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason for a survey or consultation process with persons with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities and, in particular, those in receipt of domiciliary care allowance; if this process could permit an opt-in or opt-out option in the context in which parents might feel that their child on medical grounds is not able to participate in the workforce; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16824/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am assuming that the Deputy is referring to a national consultation process in relation to a number of recommendations made in the Make Work Pay (MWP) for people with disabilities report, organised by the Department. The MWP report itself was published in April 2017 following a commitment in the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for people with disabilities 2015 -2024 and was undertaken in order to better identify how people with disabilities could be supported to achieve their employment ambitions.
The consultation reflects a commitment made at the time of the publication of the MWP report to consult widely with persons with disabilities and their families in relation to the number of recommendations about the principle of early engagement and a proposed reconfiguration of the Disability Allowance payment. One MWP recommendation is to support young adults through education, training and social inclusion according to their capacity, and to change the qualifying age for disability allowance. The other recommendation was to adopt an early engagement approach in order to support the employment ambitions of people with disabilities. Early engagement would mean that the State will support people with disabilities at the earliest stage possible to help them achieve their employment goals. To this end, people with disabilities would begin receiving assistance, advice and support from the departments Intreo service (or other related services) when they apply for a disability income support payment.
At the launch of the consultation process, I together with the Minister of State for Disabilities made clear that engagement would be voluntary: in other words, it would be a matter for persons with disabilities themselves to decide whether they wanted to avail of the supports offered through the Intreo service. This has been stressed at all stages throughout the consultation process.
The national consultation process concluded on April 13 and now will be followed by further consideration of the results with a stakeholder focus group. This group comprises of persons with experience of disability issue was established last September and has helped my Department with the design of the national consultation process.
I together with my Government colleagues, look forward to learning the outcome of the consultation process in due course.
I hope this clarifies the issue for the deputy.
1487. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the steps he will take to address a serious risk to the highly vulnerable aquifer posed by a company's reinforcement project (details supplied) in counties Laois and Kilkenny particularly in view of the pollution incident that occurred in March 2018 during which kerosene entered the Fethard water supply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15209/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra1488. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he is satisfied that there is no risk to the groundwater, groundwater dependent habitats and highly vulnerable regionally important aquifer situated under counties Laois and Kilkenny reinforcement project substation in County Laois in view of the fact that operational risks did not form part of the environmental assessment of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15211/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1487 and 1488 together.
The project in question has been granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanála and environmental and other considerations would have been taken into account as part of the planning process.
Local authorities have a general responsibility for the monitoring, management, protection and improvement of water quality. The Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts 1977 and 1990 carry a general prohibition on the entry of any polluting matter to waters. The Environmental Protection Agency is the statutory body for investigating complaints of pollution and for the enforcement, both directly and through oversight of local authorities, of environmental legislation in Ireland.
Neither I nor my Department has any direct role in monitoring or supervising the delivery of water services or any pollution incidents arising therefrom.
1489. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of librarians in the past five years by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15292/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra1490. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of librarians that have retired in the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15293/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1489 and 1490 together.
My Department is responsible for workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this end, my Department gathers quarterly data on staff numbers in local authorities; however, the data gathered does not provide details in terms of the number of librarians employed or the number that retired by county or local authority. Accordingly, the information requested is not available in my Department.
1491. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the protections he will introduce for students reliant on affordable accommodation making specific reference to a case (details supplied). [15694/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra1556. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the recent 27% year-on-year increase in rent at a student residence (details supplied) in a rent pressure zone, bringing total rent per annum to €8,695; and his plans to ensure that rent caps of 4% per annum apply to purpose built or contracted student accommodation. [15735/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra1579. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to ensure that dedicated student accommodation is not exempt from rent pressure zone regulations; if such accommodation will be subject to the work of the Residential Tenancies Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15984/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1491, 1556 and 1579 together.
Rent Pressure Zones have their legal basis under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, as amended. This legislation regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented residential sector. Pursuant to section 3(1), this Act applies to every dwelling that is the subject of a tenancy. The provisions of the Act, including those provisions providing for the rent pressure zone measure, does not apply where the dwelling is occupied by a person under an arrangement which is not a tenancy.
Licensing arrangements such as those that apply to some types of student accommodation are not covered by the legislative protections of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, because they are not deemed to be tenancies for the purposes of the Act. Consequently, the restrictions on rental increases in Rent Pressure Zones, provided for in the Residential Tenancies Act, do not therefore apply to accommodation types that are not normally subject to tenancies.
However, if there is any doubt as to the type of arrangement in place, whether it is a tenancy or licence, the matter should be referred to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) for a determination.
I understand that the Department of Education and Skills (DES) are to examine the case for inclusion of purpose-built student accommodation within the Rent Pressure Zone legislation, including through the forum of the Inter-Departmental Working Group on Student Accommodation which is convened by DES.
1492. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the position with regard to the so-called Dublin array of offshore wind turbines; the status of the proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15757/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraSaorgus Energy Limited lodged an application for a foreshore lease to develop a windfarm on the Kish and Bray Banks in 2009 which are located approximately 10km from the Dublin and Wicklow coasts. The company also published an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in respect of the proposal, which is known as the Dublin Array. The applicant held its own public consultation process around that time; however, the application has not yet been approved by my Department to proceed to public consultation under the Foreshore Consent Application Process.
It should also be noted that a foreshore lease is only one of a number of conditions required by prospective developers in this sector. Other conditions necessary to ensure the viability of offshore renewable energy projects include the ability to output to the national grid as well as subsidy support. Policies in relation to these matters are the responsibility of the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, respectively.
1493. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loans that have been applied for since 1 February 2018, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16122/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra1494. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loans that have been turned down since 1 February 2018, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16123/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra1495. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loan applications pending a decision, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16124/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1493 to 1495, inclusive, together.
As with the previous local authority home loan offerings, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, which was introduced on 1 February 2018, is a local authority product and loan applications are made directly to the local authority in whose area the property proposed for purchase is situated. My Department does not collect information on the number of enquiries to local authorities regarding the loan, the number of complete loan applications received by local authorities, or the reasons as to why a loan application may be declined.
As is currently the case, my Department will continue to publish information on the overall number and value of (1) local authority loan approvals and (2) local authority loan drawdowns on its website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/statistics/house-prices-loans-and-profile-borrowers/local-authority-loan-activity.
This information is currently updated to end Q3 2017; it is anticipated that Q4 data will be published shortly.
