Results 25,741-25,760 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Respite Care Services (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy is asking me-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Respite Care Services (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: ------if I can tell him the contents of the budget which is due next October. I am not in a position to share that with him now. The Deputy will have noted that the tax returns last week were reasonably positive and that the number of people returning to work is also reasonably positive. I say this in an effort to explain to the Deputy that every time 10,000 people leave the live register...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Respite Care Services (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: -----return to work, the saving to all those taxpayers who pay tax and PRSI is approximately €90 million.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Respite Care Services (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: If I can continue the strategy-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Respite Care Services (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: -----of getting people back to work and getting more easement in terms of overall social welfare costs-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Respite Care Services (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: -----then, in terms of the budgetary strategy, there will be some room to manoeuvre. There are no commitments at this time in relation to any particular group in respect of the budget.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Respite Care Services (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy, as someone who served in government for a long time, is aware of that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Youth Guarantee (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: The Government recognises the importance of increasing participation in employment for people with disabilities, including young people. I am committed to removing any barriers that remain preventing people with disabilities from participating in activation programmes and employment. In terms of mainstream provision, young people with a disability can access all activation programmes, for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Youth Guarantee (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: From visiting and meeting many of the groups and organisations that work with young people with a disability, sometimes intellectual and sometimes physical, I realise there is significant pent-up demand to allow young people with a disability to participate in the labour force as well as in all the educational opportunities that the State has to offer. I am sure the Deputy supports this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Youth Guarantee (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: As I have done in other areas, as we progress the negotiations with Europe to commence the youth guarantee, the scheme is currently being piloted in the Ballymun area. I would be very anxious to see full provision for young people with disabilities.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Youth Guarantee (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: However, it is important that the existing opportunities are fully maintained for young people with disabilities because they are popular.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Youth Guarantee (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: The issue is that we get the fullest use of the existing schemes. I want to say to employers who may be listening or reading this, if it is reported in the media, that we offer, through the Department of Social Protection, very significant wage subsidy schemes for employers who take on people with a disability of any age although, of course, this includes young people. Many people in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Youth Guarantee (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: I am very familiar with some of the work that is being done in this area and know it is very important in helping young people to access employment successfully, either on a full-time or a part-time basis, whether it is done under that scheme or in the wider context of the youth guarantee. I hope the Deputy shares with me, as he probably does, the common goal of seeing more young people able...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Youth Guarantee (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: -----employers should be aware of all the other marvellous creative things they can bring to employment. I want to ask employers to consider the possibility of including in their organisations people with a disability.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 84 together. The Government has provided over €344 million for the rent supplement scheme in 2014, the purpose of which 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....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: If the Deputy makes the details of the case to which she referred in Tallaght available to me, I will pass them to the community welfare service in Tallaght with the permission of the family she is dealing with because the objective has to be to keep families in homes. The practice of landlords of indicating through websites that rent allowance is not acceptable is not helpful. On the other...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: With regard to the position in Dublin, the community welfare service, the homeless persons unit, the HSE's asylum seekers and new communities unit, Departments and agencies dealing with housing, the local authorities and other stakeholders are coming together to facilitate homeless people in accessing private rented accommodation. The community welfare service in Limerick provided a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy has extensive experience of membership of the Government and during the long period in which Fianna Fáil was in government there was much talk but never any action on this important issue. If people are renting and likely to be renting in the long term, our aim and objective are to ensure a family has secure long-term accommodation. That is the best and most stable solution...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Funding (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department will spend close to €1.1 billion this year in a range of employment, education and internship schemes. The major scheme is the community employment scheme, with expenditure of close to €358 million. The back to work allowance accounts for close to €113 million, while JobBridge spending stands at €82 million. All modern economies invest in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Funding (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Burton: Economists like the one mentioned talk about displacement effects and the people who would have got work anyway. Based on research from 2011 and 2012, contrary to the suggestion of Deputy Ó Snodaigh about opportunity cost, JobBridge generated positive value to the Exchequer of €15 million over a full year. Perhaps what the Deputy's economist is failing to take into account is...