Results 23,801-23,820 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: I am a great fan of the campaign for plain English or indeed plain Irish. I am afraid, as the Deputy has mentioned, sometimes it is not only like looking into a bush, but like looking into a thicket, trying to make out the meaning of a pension statement. The Deputy is correct in pointing out that the people in the pensions industry earn very handsome rewards for the work they do. The...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: I have very little to add. The existing Pensions Board is working on a number of communications regarding information on pensions, some of which I expect to launch in February. When the pensions council is established it will be given the specific remit of consumer interests. As both Deputies have said, the paramount issue is communication with consumers in a language they can understand....

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: I agree with much of what Deputies O'Dea and Ó Snodaigh have said. On the precise item identified by Deputy O'Dea in his amendment, namely, the annual management charge, these are charges associated with the cost of fund management. It does not take account of other charges incurred such as contribution charges, policy fees, exit penalties and other undisclosed costs. The...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: As regards Deputy O'Dea's question, as I understood it, he asked if it was ultimately possible for the scheme to change solely the entitlements of deferred members before they became pensioners, and leave existing pensioners untouched.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: Yes.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: Only about 6% of schemes have been restructured to date and the majority of that restructuring has related to post-retirement increases. Very few schemes have adjusted core benefits. In some schemes, for instance, the pensions, including deferred ones, moved with how salaries moved in the company. In a lot of restructuring cases, the sacrifice that has been made is to forgo some or all of...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: I indicated my own preference. The people who do not have any type of proper pension structure are typically people in low paid jobs, women and other people who have interrupted periods of employment for different reasons. Most of them end up relying solely and exclusively on the State pension because their employment does not provide for a pension. If we were to develop a national scheme...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: Members had a lengthy discussion of this issue in the debate on an earlier amendment. First, the Department of Social Protection probably has the most extensive consultation process of almost any Department. It could be argued at times that things might move a lot faster, were the Department to adopt the practices of other Government agencies by having limited consultation. People from the...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: -----Deputy Ó Snodaigh will probably be receiving approximately two-thirds of the €24,000. Perhaps he might have a special case to get the minimum floor that is being established here. That is the background to that and it means we have moved in that regard. We then have the situation of people with higher pensions, but as I said in the previous discussion, the advice of the...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: I should have given the Deputy a more comprehensive answer on that. I discussed this at length with Deputy O'Dea. As the Deputy said, this is in regard to the industrial relations machinery. The Department of Social Protection does not have any power regarding the industrial relations machinery, but I told Deputy O'Dea that I would take it up with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: To be clear, I am very happy to introduce this legislation. It is reforming legislation. What I said is that I regret the difficulties pension funds have found themselves in over a protracted period going back to the late 1980s.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: I thank all the Deputies for what was a very detailed discussion. It is a very technical issue but it is of great importance to all the people who are part of pension funds - the pensioners, the active members and the deferred members. I hope the new options offered in this Bill will allow even more pension funds to restructure successfully and, ultimately, protect pensions for people.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: Next Thursday.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (17 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. It is expected that the estimated expenditure for ENPs in 2013 will be over €35 million. There is no automatic...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (17 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me the Invalidity Pension appeal of the person concerned has been referred to an Appeals Officer who has decided to convene an oral hearing in January 2014. The appellant will be informed when arrangements for the oral hearing have been made. The Deputy makes reference in his question to an oral hearing having been attended recently by the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (17 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: I am informed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that, an appeal for the person concerned was registered on 20th August 2013 and in accordance with the statutory requirements, the Appeals Office contacted the person concerned and asked them to set out the complete grounds of their appeal. For this purpose, a form SWAO1 was issued to person concerned on 20th August 2013. The Social Welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (17 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 29th November 2013. The person concerned was disallowed jobseekers allowance by a Deciding Officer of the Department as his means, derived from benefit of board and lodging in his parents’ home, exceed the statutory limit. It is a statutory requirement of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (17 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: The age limit for receipt of domiciliary care allowance (DCA) is 16 years. As the child concerned reaches the age of 16 years in February 2014, DCA is no longer payable after that date. A letter issued in October 2013 advising that payment of DCA is due to end in February and that the child could apply for disability allowance in her own right. Entitlement to carers allowance is reviewed...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Reform (17 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: The Deputy will appreciate that it is not appropriate for me to comment on matters relating to an individual pension scheme. The provision in the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill broadens the options available to the trustees of a pension scheme in the event of the restructure of scheme benefits. It essentially provides for the sharing of the risk of scheme underfunding across all...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Eligibility (17 Dec 2013)

Joan Burton: JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, was launched on 1st July, 2011 as part of the Government’s Jobs Initiative. JobBridge provides work experience placements for those on the Live Register for a 6 or 9 month period to assist in breaking the cycle where jobseekers are unable to get a job without experience, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training...