Results 20,041-20,060 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code Reform (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The €1 billion we spent helping lone parents, who are doing a great job of raising their children, should help them to get back over a period of time to full financial independence.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided over €47 million for the scheme in 2013. Exceptional needs payment are payable at the discretion of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy correctly stated, community welfare officers have discretion. Since entering the Department of Social Protection, they have been working to share and collate data on how these payments are dealt with across the country. In our discussion last year, I told the Deputy of my surprise that there was an average payment of €300 in respect of holy communions in some areas such...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: I gave the Deputy the amount that is provided for in the Estimate, which is €47 million. That is a significant amount. In 2011, approximately 49,000 people got assistance with clothing. In 2012, a total of 51,914 people got such assistance. I do not fully understand the reason the Deputy suggests that there is no provision now because there is a provision in the Estimates for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: -----for clothing and footwear, and 49,000 payments were made in the previous year.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: I do not understand the basis of Deputy Ó Snodaigh’s argument that payments on the ground have stopped. I am sorry, but that is not true.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: On a point of information-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: -----they are the figures for last year.

Other Questions: Youth Unemployment Measures (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 99 together. Research evidence shows that early and prolonged periods of unemployment during a person’s lifetime can have a permanent scarring effect on that person’s capacity to improve his or her standard of living. This is a particular problem during an economic downturn as young people tend to suffer the impact of job losses more...

Other Questions: Youth Unemployment Measures (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: In facing into the EU Presidency and considering the matter for almost two years I, as Minister for Social Protection, identified this as a critical area. In Ireland the unemployment rate has moved down but it is still at a very high level. In the case of young people throughout Europe, their rate is almost double the rate of unemployment for those over 25. With young people new to the...

Other Questions: Youth Unemployment Measures (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: With regard to additional provisions this year, the Deputy may have heard a Government initiative being advertised in the media. The Momentum programme is a scheme for education and training interventions, with training targeted at areas where employment is available. A review was done for my Department of the various schemes which it supports, and it indicates that we are spending...

Other Questions: Youth Unemployment Measures (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: With regard to the questions of Deputies Ó Snodaigh and O'Dea, all the funding amounts must be finalised. In general, the funds would be within the envelope of European social funds and cohesion funds. I cannot give the Deputies a final figure except to say that President Von Rompuy's indicative figure was €6 billion, €3 billion of which was in the context of current...

Other Questions: After School Support Services (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: I am very conscious that the forthcoming changes to the one-parent family payment scheme highlight the need for additional supports for lone parents that will be affected by these reforms. In particular there will be a need for additional after-school child care provision so as to assist former one-parent family payment recipients make their transition into employment or other activation...

Other Questions: After School Support Services (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: It has taken a lot of work by dedicated officials to put the scheme together. As we roll it out on a pilot basis, it will be of great interest. Going around the country and visiting CE schemes, the whole area of personal care, be it in child care or older people, is important and significant employment opportunities exist there for people who are qualified at the relevant FETAC level. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Maternity Benefit (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Maternity benefit is an income maintenance payment awarded to eligible women for a 26-week period on foot of a confinement. Entitlement to this benefit for employees is contingent on entitlement to statutory maternity leave. In 2012 there were 45,129 recipients under the scheme, down from 48,413 in 2011. My Department spent €303 million on maternity benefit payments in 2012, down...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Placements (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Jobbridge is the National internship scheme introduced in July 2011 as a means of giving unemployed people an opportunity to secure work experience and to prove their competence to prospective employers. Under the scheme unemployed people and people with disabilities can secure work experience of either six or nine months and receive a top-up of €50 onto their weekly social welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Contracts (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The contract for the delivery of cash payment services to customer which is currently with An Post, expires on 31 December, 2013. In anticipation of this, the Department is undertaking two public procurement competitions for the delivery of welfare payments. The first procurement competition is seeking over the counter cash services for social welfare customers. This procurement was...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 97 together. The total cost of the Electricity/Gas allowance in 2013 is estimated at €176m with 405,000 recipients. The total cost of the Telephone allowance in 2013 is estimated at €48.1m with 395,000 recipients. My Department meets regularly with the energy and telecommunication providers to ensure the smooth operation of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Poverty (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The poverty reduction effect after social transfers demonstrates that the social protection system is protecting children at risk. From 2004 to 2010 (most recent data for children), the poverty reduction effect of social transfers for children’s at-risk-of-poverty rate increased from 43 per cent to 62 per cent. This reflects concerted State intervention and investment in the social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Reports (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: My Department is currently preparing a Social Impact Assessment of the main taxation and welfare changes announced in Budget 2013. This will include an analysis of the distributive and poverty impacts of these changes on different family types including those with children as well as the impact on at risk of poverty levels. This process is nearing completion and I hope to publish the...