Results 20,181-20,200 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: There are currently 25 Medical Assessors employed in my Department, including the Chief Medical Adviser and the Deputy Chief Medical Adviser. Of this number, 3 were appointed this week. All of the staff in question serve on a full-time basis. A public competition was held to appoint additional Medical Assessors in 2012 and my Department is liaising with the Public Appointments Service with a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Equipment (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The IT system used by the Department of Social Protection to accept and process illness benefit claims is the Integrated Short-Term Scheme (ISTS) computer system. This system provides an integrated IT service for the administration, processing and generation of payments in respect of illness benefit claims. This system also handles the processing of claims for all short term schemes. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 24th August 2012. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred in to an Appeals...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Code Issues (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: There is no specific group of self-employed people who fit into the above category, as each case is examined on an individual basis. If a person has not fully discharged their liabilities to the Revenue Commissioners under self-assessment, PRSI may be incorrectly returned and in such circumstances underpayments can occur. It should be noted that all outstanding PRSI liabilities in relation...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Appeals (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing on 26th March 2013. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Eligibility (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The person concerned appealed the decision to disallow his claim for jobseeker’s allowance on the basis that his means were is excess of the permitted amount. As a result of this the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office recommended that a review of his means be carried out by the Social Welfare Local Office. Additional documentation was received from the person concerned and a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Household Benefits (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The household benefits package comprises the electricity/gas allowance, the telephone allowance and the free television licence. In 2013, my Department will spend an estimated €284 million on this scheme, providing some 410,000 customers with a package worth almost €700 per year. The estimated expenditure on the television licence element of the household benefits package for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Eligibility (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The person concerned is employed casually and each week is paid a jobseeker's payment, by cheque, in respect of days on which she is unemployed. She should submit dockets on a weekly basis upon which the number of days worked is stated. Cheques are then issued when the docket is received from the client. However, if the docket is not received or is late in arriving at the Local Office, the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Eligibility (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: An unemployed person may qualify for jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance. Jobseeker’s benefit is based on a person’s social insurance record and jobseeker’s allowance is based on weekly means. A fundamental qualifying condition for a jobseeker’s payment is that a person must be available for full-time work. Under EU Regulations, in certain...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Payments (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Invalidity pension is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the contribution conditions. The person concerned has been awarded an invalidity pension with effect from 4 August 2011. Her pension went into payment on 10 January 2013. Arrears due, less any benefit or assistance paid for the period, will be in the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received on the 24th April 2012. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 12th June 2012 advising of the decision. The person concerned requested a review of the decision and the case has been forwarded to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Offices (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy will be aware the Pathways to Work document states that the introduction of the new Intreo service is a multi-annual project. The first ten Intreo offices went live in 2012. These first ten offices were Sligo, Arklow, Tallaght, Kings Inns, Ballymun, Buncrana, Coolock, Dundalk, Finglas and Killarney. The Intreo Services will be rolled out to all of the Department’s...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Any person who meets the eligibility criteria for Community Employment (CE) is free to apply for a CE placement. The general requirement is for a person to have been in receipt of a CE-qualifying payment, such as jobseeker's allowance, for 12 months or more and be between 25 and 65 years of age. Another perhaps more appropriate option given that the person maybe job ready is to consider the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 17th January 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 13th...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in this case on 27th March 2012. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question on the 9th February 2012. The application is currently with a social welfare investigative officer for a means assessment and confirmation that all the conditions for receipt of carer’s allowance are satisfied. Once the investigative officer has completed and submitted the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Applications (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: A new application for rent supplement was received by my Department from the person concerned on 14th February 2013. It is being examined and assessed at present and a decision will issue shortly. It should be noted that on 21st February he was paid rent supplement for the period until 28th February 2013, after he had moved house. This payment of €211.30 can be used to offset his...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Live Register Numbers (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: I am informed that at the end of February the live register stood at 428,876 of which 76,829 (17.9%) were non-Irish nationals. A breakdown of the non-Irish nationals into European Union nationals and the largest represented Non-European Union Nationals is in the attached tabular statement. With regard to the total amount of expenditure in my Department associated with non-Irish nationals on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Support Services (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Given the scale of the unemployment crisis, the key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to offer assistance to those most in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. This policy objective prioritises scarce resources to those in receipt of qualifying welfare payments. Accordingly the employment services and schemes provided by...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (12 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, a supplement may be paid in respect of exceptional heating needs where the claimant satisfies the general conditions of entitlement to SWA. In order to qualify for a heating supplement, the applicant must live alone or with a qualified adult or child/children and must have exceptional heating needs due to ill-health or infirmity. In...