Results 21,101-21,120 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the information campaign undertaken by the Citizens Information Board, CIB, regarding the Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service. This service offers a dedicated helpline, website and financial advice which is available to borrowers from independent accountants, the cost of which is being borne by the lenders via the Irish Banking...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The CIB is an independent agency and the chief executive officer is the Accounting Officer for the board and is responsible for ensuring all public moneys are expended in a proper manner. The CIB was requested to do this by the interdepartmental group, the group working on mortgages, because of the desire to get people who are indebted with mortgage debt to be in contact with their lenders,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: If I understood the Deputy's question, he is looking for a list of all tenders issued by the Department of Social Protection in the past 18 months.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I do not have that information to hand but will certainly request it for the Deputy. As a former Minister, the Deputy is aware that in situations of urgency provisions are made for single tenders. Given that few issues are more urgent than assisting people in trouble with their mortgages and getting information to them, that was the context in which the Citizens Information Board, CIB, was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The family income supplement, or FIS payment, is designed to provide income for employees on low earnings who have families. The FIS payment preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she was unemployed and claiming other social welfare payments. Some people may believe that taking up employment...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: My view, which I have given to the Deputy on a number of occasions, is that people are always better off in work. They may start back on a relatively low income but very often, having worked for a period, they get increases. It is better for those people and their families that they should work. The Deputy is right to state that the number of people interested in family income supplement...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The advisory group is examining the issue of in-work supports for families with children. Although the group's report is often referred to solely in the context of child benefit, it actually considered all payments made to families with children. The total amount paid in benefits is almost €3 billion, of which child benefit is €2 billion. One of the reasons the group is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support for eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have access to accommodation from any other source. There are approximately 86,000 recipients of rent supplement, of whom approximately 54,000 have been in receipt of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The most recent social welfare legislation amended the Social Welfare Acts to provide for a mandatory capacity in respect of allowing people offered new tenancies or places on the RAS to sign on to the household budgeting system operated through post offices because local authorities want to be assured they will receive rent contributions from tenants. I understand local authorities around...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: We have not had any discussions in this regard. We have already taken on a significant amount of additional work, including community welfare officers from the HSE and employment staff from FÁS, but we have also taken responsibility for driving the pathways to work process, which essentially involves a complete transformation of my Department. People who come to social welfare offices...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Government and I, as Minister for Social Protection, are committed to reducing and eliminating poverty, as set out in the programme for Government. We are determined to ensure the most vulnerable are enabled to benefit from economic recovery through activation programmes and services and, ultimately, being able to return to work. The existing strategy for addressing poverty is the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy will recall from his time in government, the previous Government abolished the Combat Poverty Agency. The social inclusion division of my Department performs a role similar to that performed by the former agency. I have asked the division, which has great expertise in measuring poverty and examining what constitutes being less well-off, to examine this issue. I am pleased...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I am not sure if the Deputy heard me when I stated that I prioritised the expansion of the school meals programme to ensure children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and in DEIS schools, would secure greater access to the programme. This positive social development is taking place in the context of a difficult budgetary position. As I also indicated, the social inclusion...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: A 2012 paper on public policy proposed that there be an official measure of food poverty, which is inextricably linked to issues of finance, education, transport, literacy, culture, planning and retailing. As such, a solution requires a multisectoral approach across all relevant Departments. Food poverty is not an isolated issue that results in poor dietary intake but one aspect of wider...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals to bridge the gap between unemployment and the world of work. The scheme has made very significant progress since it came into operation in July 2011, with 17,609 internship placements having commenced to date. There are currently 6,104 participants on the scheme and 2,218 vacancies available on the JobBridge website. The independent evaluation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: As I travel throughout Ireland, I continually meet individuals, employers and organisations who attest to the fact that the intern scheme has been a positive experience for those on both sides. Those who employ people often inform me that they never previously appreciated the sheer calibre and quality of many individuals who, unfortunately, are currently without employment. JobBridge is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I was very happy to co-author an article in yesterday's edition of The Guardian in which I repeated what I said in my address to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, namely, that Europe must take action to reflate member states' economies and get people back to work. I am a practical person and during my entire time in politics, what I have been interested in is young people. I worked for a...

Other Questions: Illness Benefit Applications (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: Claims for illness benefit, formerly disability benefit, are submitted following the customer's consultation with his or her general practitioner, GP, or doctor. Departmental medical assessors are not involved in reviewing illness benefit claims at claim stage, as a claim has already been certified by the customer's doctor. Customers may subsequently ask to attend for medical assessment by...

Other Questions: Illness Benefit Applications (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I appreciate the Deputy's concern, but we do not assess a person's illness. That is the job of his or her doctor. When someone applies for illness benefit, he or she has received a doctor's certificate. It may be that a person has a number of conditions including physical and mental health elements, but it is whatever the doctor certifies as being the primary illness from which the person...

Other Questions: Illness Benefit Applications (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I will be helpful for the Deputy. Currently, 22 medical assessors, including the chief and deputy chief medical advisers, conduct medical assessments across a wide range of the Department's schemes, including illness benefit. Of these assessors, six have postgraduate qualifications in the mental health field, for example, the MRCPsych and the diploma in clinical psychiatry. They also have...