Results 24,321-24,340 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Mortgage Interest Supplement Payments (4 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The original purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was to provide short term support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence. The supplement assists with the interest portion of the mortgage repayments only. There are currently approximately 10,000 people in receipt of mortgage...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Data (4 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The annual cost per participant of the Community Employment (CE) scheme is based on social welfare rates with an additional payment of €20 per week. This amounted to €267m in 2013. In addition to the participant costs, a grant for Supervisors who manage the CE scheme amounted to €56.8m was drawn down in 2013. A total of €4.5m training costs was incurred for CE...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 79,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. Statistics are not available on the number of persons 23 years of age and younger in receipt of rent supplement for each of the past five years. The rent supplement age statistics that are available profiles recipients’ age subtotalled for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions Reform (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: Increasing State pension age and the abolition of the State pension (transition), from January 2014, are steps that have been taken to ensure the sustainability of pensions into the future. The decision to reform State pension was taken in the context of changing demographics and the fact that people are living longer and healthier lives. Depending on the person’s pension scheme,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source. There are currently approximately 79,000 rent...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the redundancy payments scheme is to compensate workers, under the Redundancy Payments Acts for the loss of their jobs by reason of redundancy. It is the employer’s responsibility to make statutory redundancy payments to its eligible employees. The time limit for an employee to make a statutory redundancy lump sum claim is 52 weeks after the date of termination of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Applications (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The client in question was awarded jobseeker's allowance from 31 January 2014, having being in receipt of a supplementary welfare allowance from 16 January 2014. The client was asked to supply further information in relation to her rent supplement claim on 4 February 2014 and a decision on entitlement will be made on receipt of same.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: Schemes, such as the back to education allowance (BTEA), are introduced under powers conferred on the Minister for Social Protection under the Social Welfare Acts to provide and fund a range of support programmes and schemes for people in receipt of a certain social welfare payments. The rules applying to BTEA are not contained in primary or secondary legislation but in operational...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The table lists the various social welfare schemes and payments that are provided for on a statutory basis and on a non-statutory basis. In general, the weekly income replacement payments, such as State pensions, illness and disability benefits, jobseekers payments etc., are provided for on a statutory basis. However, other schemes which provide a variety of services free of charge or at...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Civil Registration Legislation (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The loss of a child in any circumstances is an extremely tragic event for a family and I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to those families who have lost children. The procedures governing the registration of deaths are provided for under Part 5 of the Civil Registration Act, 2004. When a death occurs it is registered on foot of a certificate of cause of death supplied by a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Appeals (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was received in that office on 27 November 2013 and was registered on 9 December 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...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (5 Feb 2014)

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. Every effort will be made to hear the case as quickly as possible and the appellant will be informed when arrangements have been made. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Reform (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The principle underlying a service tapered approach would be that those who have contributed for longest should get the most out of the scheme in the event of the wind up of scheme. As I indicated in my previous response, this was one of the many options considered during the deliberation phase which preceded the publication of the Social Welfare and Pension (No. 2) Bill 2013. It was...

Seanad: Youth Guarantee: Statements (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: I thank the Members of the Seanad for this opportunity to discuss the youth guarantee implementation plan. I promised the Senators that when we had the plan ready, I would be happy to come back and discuss it. I also want to thank the Members of the Seanad who made contributions during the drafting of the plan, particularly Senators Zappone and O'Donnell, who made very considered, detailed...

Seanad: Youth Guarantee: Statements (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: They are for two years.

Seanad: Youth Guarantee: Statements (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: To clarify, the JobsPlus subsidy is given for two years and paid on a monthly basis after every month of employment.

Seanad: Youth Guarantee: Statements (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The JobsPlus scheme has only just commenced.

Seanad: Youth Guarantee: Statements (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: It applies to those aged under 26 years, that is, until the end of a person's 25th year.

Seanad: Youth Guarantee: Statements (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: When my officials receive the transcript of this debate, I will try to ensure more detailed replies are provided to those Senators who have made specific requests for information and made particular points. I will make a few general remarks about the position of young people in Ireland. As Senators will have seen, the secondary school completion rate in Ireland has reached 90%, which is a...

Seanad: Youth Guarantee: Statements (5 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: She would be very welcome. I will send her a personal invitation, or I am sure the Taoiseach will. The Intreo initiative involves a physical overhaul of the offices, which will give people more privacy, and significant information technology changes. The Cathaoirleach is now probably familiar with those changes, which allow for claims to be processed much more rapidly. When one goes into...