Results 22,961-22,980 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Your idea for a 22 year old may be for them to be on social welfare. It is not my ambition. My ambition is to have people working and that is why we will have a flow of places. We expect that about 14,000 young people will be affected by this measure over the next year. Youth unemployment has been falling for a number of distinct reasons. First of all, there were fewer births in 1994 and...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: It is part of it.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I thank the Deputies who contributed to the debate on this section. Deputy Collins just quoted me from a few years ago about the lack of a resolution process and the disaster that was the guarantee. I stand over every word I said and I am glad the Deputy reminded me of that and of my earlier comments from Danny Blanchflower about the corrosive effect of young people not having a job. I...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: We had a Government that drove up property prices through tax breaks. As Deputy Joan Collins and others have said, many people are in very expensive houses and what they owe is not reflected in the current value of the house. As a country we need to create resolutions for those people so that they can live with a sustainable payment. In recent years we have paid more than €300...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Over a period of time the money that has been going into the mortgage interest supplement should be going into the resolution process. I am sure the Deputy does not mean to say what in effect she is suggesting, which is to hand a blank cheque to a bank to take the interest and offer the poor couple involved no resolution at all.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I do not believe any Deputy in this House intends that. Nor do they intend that somebody in the building trade whose company might have fallen apart in 2008 and ended up on MIS might now be blocked from going back to work with the pickup in construction. It has become an unemployment trap. I invite Deputy Joan Collins to read up on how it has worked. Deputy Donnelly is right in saying...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I have agreed with the Deputy on that

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: That is why it is phased over the next four years.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I accept what both Opposition spokespeople have said that we need to see the roll-out. The roll-out is under way as we speak. The phase out period of this is four years. We have considerable leeway. It is generally couples who are on mortgage interest supplement. However, simply handing the banks a blank cheque which does nothing for the individual or couple for interest-only payments...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: On the last point, I was asked about the operation of social welfare inspectors at airports. The question applied only to that. Some people were under the impression that it applied only to people coming into the country but in several cases it applied to Irish people who had left the country but continued to claim and came back regularly to do so. My comment related only to that situation...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Deputy O'Dea may recall that his own Government produced key documents in 2007 and 2010. In the context of changing population age structures in Ireland, the recommendation of those documents and the framework relating to pensions was that the population age be raised to 66. The Government at the time agreed to that and it became policy. It also set out the trajectory of the subsequent...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I think the answer is "not negatively" but if, for example, the employer wishes to contribute to the scheme in order to provide for additionally, that would be completely possible. Due to the fall in stock market values which lasted until recently - this year and last year stock market values have begun to increase significantly - pension funds across the western world experienced...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection directs, funds, and manages a range of work placement and training initiatives in pursuit of Government policies, particularly Pathways to Work. Community employment is the primary scheme through which training associated work placements is delivered via a network of over 1,000 community and voluntary companies and bodies across the country. The rural...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Insurance Issues (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 411 and 515 together. Generally persons between 16 years and under pensionable age are liable to PRSI on all of their different forms of income. All workers pay PRSI on their earnings from employment or self-employment. In the case of individuals who more than one income source, PRSI is generally paid on all forms of income. For example in the case of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Insurance Rates (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 412 and 484 together. The halving of the 8.5% employer rate to 4.25% was implemented on a 2½ year time limited basis, as part of the Jobs Initiative, to apply from 1 July 2011 until 31 December 2013. The 4.25% employer PRSI rate currently applied to employees with weekly earnings of €356 or less will therefore revert to the original 8.5% rate...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Birth Certificate Issues (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 413 and 415 together. Under section 46 of the Status of Children Act 1987, there is a presumption that the spouse is the father of a child. Section 22 of the Civil Registration Act, 2004 requires that, in order to support a declaration that the spouse is not the father of the child, it is required to have separation, divorce or nullity papers, a rebuttal...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Register of Solemnisers (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The Civil Registration Act 2004, as amended by the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2012, outlines the categories of bodies and organisations, including secular bodies,that may apply for registration of persons on the Register of Solemnisers. Section 45A of the Act states that a secular body must be in existence for at least five years, be an organised group of people who have secular,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 416 and 417 together. Family income supplement (FIS) is an in-work cash support for employees with families on low earnings. It tackles in-work poverty and provides an incentive to employment as opposed to welfare dependency. The estimated expenditure on FIS for 2013 is expected to be about €229 million in respect of some 42,000 families. An...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Budget 2014 (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 418, 435 to 437, inclusive, 442 and 443 together. As part of the Budget package this year changes have been made to the job seekers scheme for job seekers under 26 years of age. These changes are expected to deliver estimated savings of approximately €32 million in 2014 or €72m in a full year. It is my intention to incentivise young...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Budget 2014 (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: There are currently in excess of 395,000 customers eligible for the telephone allowance with a total estimated cost in 2013 of €48 million. The cost of the telephone allowance scheme has risen each year and the number of eligible customers has increased very significantly. In 2007 there were some 316,000 people receiving the Telephone Allowance compared to almost 396,000 at the end of...