Results 25,201-25,220 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy will recall, it is for that reason that after I became Minister - we have had a number of discussions on this - I set up the review group, which was chaired by Sylda Langford and included quite a number of parents and which involved carrying out a sampling exercise involving 1,000 parents. This included work on the domiciliary care allowance right down to redesigning the forms...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy knows, it has been made absolutely clear to parents - it is a unique feature of the Irish system in regard to this allowance and to other medically-based allowances paid in respect of disability or invalidity - that under our system, we allow people to submit fresh medical evidence for review purposes at any stage. We have discussed this before. If people immediately go to an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: That is a fact. The facts are there to show it. The actual rates for people getting this very important allowance for children and their parents have increased significantly. In 2013, the granting rate for this particular allowance went up to 73%. I do not have the statistics to hand for all of the other allowances because the Deputy did not ask about them in his question. If he cares...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: Domiciliary care allowance, DCA, is currently paid to over 25,000 clients, parents and guardians, in respect of over 27,000 children at a cost in excess of €140 million a year, when the cost of the respite care grant is included. In 2013, over 4,800 applications were received, with 3,227 claims awarded in the year, including those awarded on review and on appeal. The situation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I confirm the DCA eligibility review programme will not recommence until the implications of the judgment are clarified. The review is required under social welfare law by the Comptroller and Auditor General and by the Committee of Public Accounts. We must carry out regular reviews of all our schemes and everything in the Department. That is the context for the review. The review...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The Comptroller and Auditor General has determined that social welfare payments are subject to review. The parents will be given three months' notice of the child's review to enable them to get the documentation together and apply for an appointment. When this time has elapsed, they will receive the forms from the Department and will have two months to complete them before getting an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: -----pending the redesign of the system. I do appreciate any advice from any of the Deputies on how they feel the system can be improved. I am very anxious to ensure that parents with children who have special needs in the context of the domiciliary care allowance access any allowance to which they are entitled. That is very important.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy's examples relates to an individual who worked 19.5 hours per week on Tús from October 2012 to October 2013. I understand he has a spouse and partner and for most of the year three qualifying children but subsequently two qualifying children. I presume one child reached the age of 18 and became an adult. He would have been paid a standard social welfare allowance of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: No. They are earning €422.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: When someone moves onto a Tús scheme he or she works 19.5 hours a week for their social welfare payment. In this case the social welfare payment was €422 plus a variety of other supports. If someone was working in a private business in Waterford earning €422 plus a medical card, fuel allowance and back to school clothing and footwear allowances they are expected to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I am coming at the issue from a slightly different approach. A constituent of Deputy Halligan who has been unemployed for a long time, along with 7,500 people at any one time, essentially do a one-year community contribution because almost everyone who is on Tús is working and contributing something in his or her local community. That is one of the reasons the scheme is so popular....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: There were 300,590 recipients of jobseeker’s allowance at the end of December last year. Up to 100,000 of those were working part time or signing for credits and the number has fallen significantly since. Reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced when Deputy O'Dea was a member of Government in 2009. Budget 2014 further extended the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: Who said the following?In order to incentivise young people to avail of training and education opportunities and to prevent their becoming welfare-dependent from a young age, changes have been made to the jobseeker's allowance. This decision is not discriminatory but rather a targeted measure aimed at protecting young people from welfare dependency.It was the Deputy's colleague, former...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The Fianna Fáil-led Government introduced this measure.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy must have been sitting at the Cabinet table at the time.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I quoted the then Minister. The Deputy was in the Cabinet.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: Amnesia is all the rage in Fianna Fáil. Sometimes I wonder if they even remember the bank guarantee.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy should withdraw that if he is implying it about me.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I quoted from his colleague as Minister. I suggest he withdraw his remark. I quoted the record of the House.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I never said that.