Results 20,561-20,580 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Exceptional Needs Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: May I move on to the next question?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Exceptional Needs Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: I will wait until he finishes. If he likes, I will sit down and let him rant about Fianna Fáil. Perhaps he wants to apologise. His apology is long overdue and I have not heard it from him yet. He should apologise to taxpayers and hard-working people.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Exceptional Needs Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: He is getting excited because the Ard-Fheis is near.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: Retained firefighters are entitled to a jobseeker’s payment in respect of days they are engaged in firefighting or training. They are, however, required to satisfy the statutory conditions for the receipt of a jobseeker’s payment of being available for and genuinely seeking work. A working group has reported to me and I am pleased to inform the House that I have decided to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: The practice regarding retained firefighters has its roots in an administrative decision in 1972 to disregard any day of firefighting or training when determining their entitlement to jobseeker’s benefit or allowance. There was the proximity rule for those living close to the fire station. When this matter was brought to my attention several months after I had taken office, I sought...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Protection (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department is in receipt of a complaint regarding the issue raised by the Deputy and is currently examining the matter. All allegations are taken extremely seriously; displacement of existing workers by JobBridge interns is not allowed under the terms and conditions of the JobBridge scheme, is a flagrant abuse of the scheme and is not a practice that can be condoned. Any host...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Protection (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: I have just outlined for the Deputy an extensive set of measures that are in place. In view of the fact that more than 13,000 people who have taken part in JobBridge, the number of complaints received have been extremely low in number. Where we have found that there is good cause to the complaint, as I told the Deputy, 15 host organisations have been excluded from further participation in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Protection (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: I want to reassure the Deputy that we have an extensive system of monitoring in place, which the Deputy will find on the JobBridge site. I do not want to comment on the detail of the case, although the Deputy has made many allegations. I have asked an official of the Department to examine the complaints that have been made. We have had to go back to the organisation about which the Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Protection (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: Even in Trotskyite politics it is possible-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Protection (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: I have every respect for them. That is why we have had 13,000 people successfully taking part in this scheme. As I told the Deputy, where allegations are made we take them extremely seriously. We are taking what the Deputy said extremely seriously but he must appreciate that we have to investigate whether the complaint is well-founded.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Protection (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: The Deputy has a letter from an individual. It concerns a company which, as he said, is in some kind of contractual relationship with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. It is appropriate to give an opportunity for the matter to be examined. I do not want to say anything else about the specific case, for reasons I believe the Deputy would appreciate.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: At the outset I want to put on record that the Government fully recognises that the domiciliary care allowance, DCA, scheme represents a very important support to parents and guardians who live with and care for children with a disability. Likewise, the disability allowance, DA, represents an important income support to people who are unfit for work. In this context I am pleased that two...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: Just let me say, a wide group of interested organisations were represented, including the Carers Association, Down Syndrome Ireland, Irish Autism Action, Special Needs Parents Association, Inclusion Ireland, the Midlands Regional Forum of People with Disabilities, and parent representatives of the DCA Warriors group. They have all been consulted extensively and involved in the report....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: If the Deputy is familiar with parents who have children with a disability, he will understand there are a number of different issues that arise.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: The issue of income support is extremely important, but so is the issue that children with a disability should be facilitated to remain in education and training, particularly as teenagers, and then, hopefully, move on to employment. We must consider how best to spend funding for families with children with a disability and how to provide services and for good quality training and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: I welcome the contribution of the Deputy to the debate and Fianna Fáil's interest in this area.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: I hope Fianna Fáil continues to take an interest in this area. I do not know how aware of the situation the Deputy is or how familiar he is with it. The issue for many parents of children with a disability is that although, thankfully, these children are very integrated into education, particularly in their early years, many children with different levels of disability would like to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: We must look at the question of people's abilities rather than, as the Deputy is doing, talking in terms of the person's disability.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Allowance Payments (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: I would like to invite Fianna Fáil to start looking at ability as well as disability.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Initiatives (24 Apr 2013)

Joan Burton: Job clubs provide a valuable service to supplement the Department’s own employment services, particularly with regard to the provision of job search and CV preparation workshops for unemployed people. Job clubs accepted approximately 14,000 referrals of individual jobseekers from the Department in 2012. In addition, they provided a walk-in resource service to people in their...