Results 26,281-26,300 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: If we are to raise living standards, pay and conditions are only part of the solution. The Government has broadened the tax base and put it on a sustainable foundation in order that there will be no repeat of the collapse of the public finances that occurred when the crisis struck. That work will gradually allow us to reform the income tax system for low and middle income workers, the...

Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: This is reflected in significant upward house price pressure and an increase in rents, which is having a disproportionate impact on low income families. It is imperative that we move urgently to improve the supply of housing for both home purchasers and those renting. In recent weeks I made it abundantly clear that a Labour Party priority in the remainder of the Government's term would be...

Nomination of Members of the Government: Motion (11 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: We have a window of opportunity now to build a social recovery, and by making education central to that social recovery, we can deliver a world of opportunity for all of our children. This Government will also embark on a new cycle of political reform to restore trust in our institutions and public life. My colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Free Travel Scheme Review (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: I thank the Deputy for his congratulations to me and the Minister of State, Deputy Humphreys. The free travel scheme is currently available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over, and to persons under 66 who are in receipt of certain disability-type payments or carer’s allowance. When companion and spousal passes are taken into account, more than 1.2 million people...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Free Travel Scheme Review (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: I have heard some of the suggestions that the Deputy has made, such as annual charges and other restrictions, which have appeared from time to time and have been suggested by people. The Deputy has suggested them here himself.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Free Travel Scheme Review (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: Let us say the Deputy has been raising the spectre of charges and restrictions. There are no proposals in that regard. The scheme is almost 50 years old. It has been remarkably robust since its inception in 1967. As I explained in my reply, there are some problems with the issue of identification and a small level of misuse of the scheme. We have now introduced 197,000 of the new public...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Free Travel Scheme Review (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: From time to time some operators pull out of the scheme while other operators join it. I am aware there are cost issues for some of the operators. We are anxious to maintain those routes. As the Deputy will be aware, a number of rural transport initiatives are supported not just by my Department, but particularly by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. They can make a very...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil don Teachta mar gheall ar a chomhghairdeas dom féin agus don Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys. JobBridge has provided a valuable work experience and development opportunity to more than 30,000 unemployed jobseekers with approximately 7,000 jobseekers currently engaged on an internship. Independent...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: I will take the last question first. The reason is that as the Deputy is aware, very young people who have no engagement in the labour market get a reduced rate of payment. If, for instance, they undertake a JobBridge experience, in some cases young people who have left school early may not even have finished the junior certificate or possibly have not completed the leaving certificate. In...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: The Indecon evaluation of JobBridge found that more than two thirds of internships were in private sector organisations, 22% were in the public sector and 9% were in community and voluntary sector organisations. As the Deputy is probably aware from his experience in the community sector, internships are highly sought after because of the number of fantastic people graduating from different...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: That is not true over the-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments Administration (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: I thank Deputy Pringle for his words of congratulation to me and the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys. There are no backlogs in the provision of medical opinions on welfare entitlements. At the end of December, the number of medical opinions in process had fallen by 19%, from 3,617 to 2,923. The number of assessments in hand equates to less than four weeks' work. Some 48,000...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments Administration (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy has raised an interesting point. He may be frustrated with the scheme but one of its great flexible points is that if one makes an application for something that requires a medical assessor's opinion, we allow the application to be continually subject to review through the input of additional information. The alternative would be to use a flat system of rejection, not allow a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments Administration (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: As I said, in the business process structure we would expect a medical assessment to be done and the application to be dealt with in four weeks. That is a reasonable timeframe in the context of the work that has to be done. More importantly, we also provide significant resources amounting to approximately €47 million to the Citizens Information Board and the Money Advice &...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection will spend approximately €19.6 billion on income support payments in 2014. Core weekly payment rates have been fully maintained over the past three years in line with the programme for Government. Child benefit is paid for almost 1.2 million children in over 600,000 families, with an estimated expenditure of €1.9 billion in 2014. Income...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy is aware, preparation of statistics in this area is a matter for the CSO. I would welcome the provision of statistics on a more timely basis. The EU is currently publishing the statistics on income and living conditions, SILC, for Europe and Ireland compares very favourably, principally because we have a level of social transfers which we maintained during the depression. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: The national social target for poverty reduction is to achieve 4% by 2016 and 2% or less by 2020. A diverse range of actions in support of the target are set out in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion, with annual updates in the national reform programme under the Europe 2020 strategy. We have also recently adopted a child-specific poverty sub-target in the policy framework for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Payments (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: Self-employed people are liable for PRSI at the class S rate of 4%. This entitles them to access valuable long-term benefits, including benefits such as the contributory State pension and widow's, widower's and surviving civil partner's contributory pension, as well as maternity benefit. The advisory group on tax and social welfare found the current system of means-tested jobseeker's...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Payments (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: The advisory group found that the current system of means-tested jobseeker’s allowance payments, to which the Deputy refers, adequately covers the self-employed. I am not sure that many people appreciate the point that almost nine out of every ten self-employed people who claimed the means-tested jobseeker’s allowance during the three-year period from 2009 to 2011 received...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Payments (15 Jul 2014)

Joan Burton: Everybody present in the Chamber will recall that the set of circumstances outlined by Deputy Pringle was a strong and sad feature of the 2011 general election campaign. Each of us met many people who had been left in this precise situation. It seemed to be taking years for them to have success in applying for the means-tested jobseeker's allowance. When I became Minister shortly after the...