Results 24,701-24,720 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 27th August 2013. The application was disallowed as the child was not considered to satisfy the qualifying conditions for the allowance. A letter issued on the 23rd September 2013 advising of the decision. The person concerned subsequently requested a review of the decision. The case was reviewed...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Drug Rehabilitation Projects (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: In response to the Deputy’s question, I can confirm that there is no Departmental moratorium in place for sponsoring organisations in relation to the recruitment of Community Employment (CE) Supervisors. Where the sponsoring organisation wishes to proceed, and the numbers of participants employed on a project warrant the hiring of additional supervision, an application setting out the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 6th February 2014. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Agencies Staff Remuneration (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: There are three agencies that come under the aegis of my Department; the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. All the staff of these agencies are paid in accordance with pay scales approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. There are no top-up payments made to any of these staff.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Places (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Tús programme selects candidates from the long-term unemployed who are signing on a full-time basis on the Live Register for jobseeker's allowance and are in receipt of a payment. Candidates are selected using a randomised system and are referred to Local Development Companies who co-ordinate the allocation of places with the community and voluntary sector. Community and voluntary...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 15 October 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers were received in the Social...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. The diet supplement, administered under the supplementary welfare allowance,SWA, scheme, is payable to qualifying people who have been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition, at a cost of approximately €3.5 million in 2013. The numbers in receipt of the allowance have been declining in recent years,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I do not know if the Deputy does the family shopping, but if he was involved and particularly if he was shopping for anybody on a specialised diet, he would know what the report overwhelmingly shows, which is that in the larger, low-cost stores the availability and cost of the foods required has changed out of all proportion. The Deputy may be thinking of the previous situation whereby such...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I am glad the Deputy has acknowledged that the issue is the availability and cost of these products. They were once confined largely to chemists and like many chemist-based products in Ireland, particularly in the past, could be extraordinarily expensive. People involved in doing the family shopping will now see that nearly all stores, particularly the big multiples and low-cost discount...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I told the Deputy before that 75% of the people currently in receipt of the scheme are either on a pension or disability payment. As the Deputy will know from his knowledge of social welfare, they are some of the people on the higher levels of weekly social welfare payments. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme rate is €186 per week. Somebody on a invalidity or retirement...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The weekly cost of the specialised diets in the study ranged from €35.66 to €73.97. That is a range of 19% to 40% of the lowest rate of social welfare payment, which is a supplementary allowance of €186 per week. The number in receipt of the supplementary welfare allowance in the social welfare system is extremely small. As I indicated, almost all recipients of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: When we checked the position, we found that, by and large, those who availed of the scheme had free travel. In a significant number of cases involving individuals with a severe illness, their carers are also entitled to free travel. The report addresses all of these matters.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 5 together. There are approximately 78,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided more than €344 million in 2014. While the Deputy may find it difficult to accept, there are clearly many tens of thousands of people in receipt of rent supplement. Following an extensive review of the private rental market, revised...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I do not want to comment on individuals' circumstances because people are entitled to their privacy. The Deputy may speak about people in the tones he has just used, but it is not wise of him to make throwaway remarks on the floor of the House about their personal circumstances. I will not comment, except to state I do not understand, in the case of two of the people who the Deputy has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I appreciate the Deputy's remarks. This is something we have discussed over a number of years. We have a problem in that a number of years ago we were building as many as 90,000 units, many of which were in the wrong places. That level fell dramatically after the crash. The critical way to resolve this crisis is for the construction industry, in particular, to return a rate of house...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: Deputy Boyd Barrett referred again to the fact that this is an issue around supply. During the boom we built too many houses, a huge number of which were in the wrong areas. Dublin now has a recovering economy with many people returning to work and many workers and students renting privately in the region. It is a major centre for students - the biggest in the country. Without a doubt,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: To answer Deputy Ó Snodaigh, the Government has undertaken a series of innovative approaches to increasing supply. We are talking about a shortage of supply, but Deputies are simply saying that the short-term solution is to increase rents to private landlords. What will be the effect for all of the people at work, many of whom are on low incomes?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: Their rents will be increased by the State arbitrarily as a major player in the market. If Deputy Boyd Barrett wants to solve the problem, I invite him to sit down and work on the solution. I feel the utmost sympathy for the people who are in the Visitors' Gallery, but Deputy Boyd Barrett comes in here and mentions a whole lot of very private personal circumstances. He said those people...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The at-risk-of-poverty rate is one of a number of indicators used to measure different aspects of poverty. It captures those on low net incomes, but on its own gives only a partial picture of poverty. The official measure of poverty in Ireland is consistent poverty, which measures individuals who are both at risk of poverty and experiencing basic deprivation. Despite the economic crisis,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The figures are collected in the SILC survey of incomes and living conditions. The information is collected by a variety of bodies in conjunction with the CSO, with an input from bodies such as the ESRI and modelling by means of the SWITCH model. I would prefer if the figures were much more up to date. More recent figures such as those in this year's analysis of the social impacts with the...