You ask the questions: Mary Hanafin
Ego, what egos? We have 15 different/strong personalities around the cabinet table, but there isn’t much room for egos. Believe me, it’s the teenagers who have the egos and the politicians who are unruly.
CIAN O’FLAHERTY,
There are many lone parents working and raising their children and are not in receipt of social welfare payments. But there are some lone parents who can end up relying on social welfare for extended periods of time. Over the past number of years, the Government has been looking at supporting lone parents into education, training and employment and away from long-term welfare dependency. We do recognise that many people in receipt of social welfare benefits may need additional supports such as training and childcare support.
A condition of the current One-Parent Family payment is that you cannot be co-habiting in order to receive benefit. You will lose the payment if you do. This rule can lead to isolation and loneliness for many people, particularly women, and is not in the best interests of the child, the lone parent or society generally.
We are currently developing proposals which would replace the One-Parent Family payment with a new payment made to all parents — either living alone or with a partner — with young children on low income. The proposed new payment will be neutral in terms of people’s living arrangements.
What we are also looking at doing is frontloading supports for lone parents when they first make their claim and interacting with them on a one-to-one basis in order to give them the confidence to seek employment into the future. These supports will be provided in conjunction with FÁS, the Department of Education and Science and the Office of the Minister for Children & Youth Affairs which has responsibility for childcare.
S FLANAGAN,
That is the decision that the American public will have to make over the coming months. I am really looking forward to attending the Democratic selection convention in Denver later this month. It will be a chance to see at first-hand how this part of their process works. I think that the titanic struggle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was something which gripped the Irish people’s imagination like never before. Now if only Irish selection conventions were as popular …
SUZY BYRNE,
People with disabilities have differing needs and costs arising from both the nature of their disability and their own individual circumstances. A cost of disability payment should be responsive to these needs, and effective development of such a payment requires a comprehensive assessment of need across the population of persons with disabilities.
The Department of Health & Children has recently commenced just such a needs assessment process — starting with younger age cohorts initially before assessing those persons of adult age. Officials in the Department of Social and Family Affairs and other relevant departments & agencies will work closely with the Department of Health & Children in progressing this issue.
NAME AND ADDRESS WITH EDITOR
The objective of the living alone allowance when introduced was to make a contribution towards the additional costs which someone living on their own can face.
That said, the policy in relation to support for older people has been, for many years, to give priority to increasing the personal rates of pension in addition to enhancing the Household Benefits Package, which includes TV licence, telephone, electricity/gas and the fuel allowance rather than supplements like the living alone increase. The objective is to use resources to improve the position of all pensioners to the fullest extent possible rather than focusing on particular groups. Under this policy, the rate of contributory pension has increased from €147.30 per week in 2002 to €223.00 per week in 2008 and the non-contributory pension has increased from €134.00 per week to €212.00 per week.
The period immediately after bereavement can be a difficult time for someone and a range of other supports are available to help during this period including the Bereavement Grant, Widowed Parent Grant and, in certain circumstances, the continuation of the deceased person’s social welfare payment for a limited period.
B O’SULLIVAN,
I think all the “Marys” have broken through the so-called glass ceiling. Mary Harney was our first female Tánaiste, while we have had female presidents — both called Mary — for almost the past two decades. I think that ability will always be the main determinant of success, but only if more women came forward as we are still woefully underrepresented with just 22 out of 166 TDs.
NAME AND ADDRESS WITH EDITOR
I know that losing a job is a terribly stressful experience for people and with changing conditions we have seen an increase in [unemployment] recent months. For many men and women, this is the first time in their lives that they have had to contact their social welfare office seeking benefit, as most of our workforce has known nothing other than stable full employment.
If anyone is not sure of their entitlements, they should always check directly with the department. In relation to this particular enquiry, one of the conditions for receiving Maternity Benefit is that the mother must have been in employment within 16 weeks of the baby’s due date, not 12 months. There are also other qualifying criteria in relation to the amount of social insurance paid. Questions like this can easily be answered by contacting the department or dropping into a Social Welfare local office.
A person who does not qualify for Maternity Benefit may be able to continue claiming Jobseeker’s Benefit — they would continue to receive their jobseeker’s payment but would not have to sign on at their Social Welfare local office for a period of time around the birth of their baby.
When baby arrives, the mother will get an additional €166 per month in Child Benefit payments (the rate increases to €203.00 per month for the third and subsequent children in the family). She will also be entitled to an additional €275 every three months (€1,100 annually) with the Early Childcare Supplement.
I would also strongly urge parents to check, when they have their new baby, that they are getting their full entitlements from the department. They might check, for instance, if one or both of them are entitled to an increase in their social welfare payments in respect of their new baby, and families may be entitled to Family Income Supplement — the weekly tax-free payment for families at work on low pay. Finally, I would recommend to anyone who feels they would benefit from money management advice to contact the Money Advice and Budgeting Service. This is a free, confidential, non-judgemental and independent service for people who are in debt or who are at risk of getting into debt.
The Early Childcare Supplement payment was introduced in 2006 to assist families with the costs of caring for younger children. It is paid four times a year in respect of children aged under six years. Total amount payable for each qualified child is €1,100 per annum. This year, almost €500 million is being provided to families for 430,000 children under this supplement.
Under EU legislation, workers from one member state who work in another member state are entitled to receive what are described as family benefits that are payable in the member state in which they work. As Early Childcare Supplement is a family benefit as defined in EU legislation, workers in Ireland from other member states are entitled to receive this payment while they are classed as workers in Ireland. EU parents of some 3,000 children are claiming this supplement. Similarly, Irish persons who work in other EU member states are entitled to receive family benefits from the country they are working in.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
