Results 27,961-27,980 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I do not propose to accept the amendments in the names of Deputies Willie O’Dea, Róisín Shortall, Joan Collins, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Thomas P. Broughan and Clare Daly. They broadly entail placing a debt or obligation on employers to secure or guarantee a level of scheme funding, changing the manner in which the assets of the pension scheme are distributed in the event of...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 22:In page 4, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:“Amendment of Pensions Act 1990 4. The Pensions Act 1990 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 48A (inserted by section 10 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013):“Payment of moneys by Minister for Finance in respect of liabilities accruing under certain...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I repeat for the benefit of the House that the arrangements in the legislation are designed to get the maximum number pension funds, which for a variety of reasons have come into very serious deficit, over the line. Earlier I addressed the matters which Deputy Ryan and Clare Daly raised in relation to what happened to this particular pension fund. I listened carefully to everything Deputy...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 29:In page 4, to delete lines 22 to 24 and substitute the following: “Short title, construction and collective citations 5. (1) This Act may be cited as the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2014.(2) The Social Welfare Acts and this Act (other than section 4) shall be construed together as one Act. (3) The Pensions Acts 1990 to 2014 and section 4shall be...

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I thank the Deputies. I understand that the issues we have debated in recent times are very difficult. There has been a very intense negotiation of mediation with the Waterford Crystal workers. I had been attempting to have mediation done on the matter over a protracted period. I was not able to bring forward the amendment which I tabled on Report Stage before then because the mediation...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The secondment of 20 Gardaí to the Department to assist the SIU with fraud investigation work took effect from last Friday, 5 December having been agreed earlier this year with the Minister of Justice and Equality and An Garda Síochána. Eight of the officers will be located in Dublin with the others being assigned to various urban locations around the country. It is too early...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: There has been no change made to the entry requirements for Community Employment. The criteria for participating on CE are based on age and length of time in receipt of various qualifying social welfare payments. The general conditions are that an applicant needs to be in receipt of a relevant welfare payment for a minimum period of 1 year. The qualifying social welfare payments include...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: This year the Department will spend approximately €91.6 million on the farm assist scheme benefitting around 9,900 farmers each week. The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: There are approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. The current rent limits came into effect from June 2013. Unlike the impression given in the question, there were no reductions applied to rent limits at that time. Importantly, rent limits in Dublin and Galway were increased, with Dublin limits increasing by a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I am keeping the matter regarding rent limits under consideration and the review being undertaken by the Department will be finalised shortly. Raising rent limits may not be the solution to the current problem as it is likely to add to further rental inflation and could impact, not alone on rent supplement recipients, but also on many lower income workers and students. The Department has...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: This year the Department will spend approximately €91.6 million on the farm assist scheme and it is expected that 9,900 individuals will be in receipt of this payment each week. The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: A key objective of the transfer of the Community Welfare Service (CWS) from the Health Service Executive to the Department on 1 October 2011 was to provide a streamlined and consistent service to the customer. The Department has since re-engineered its business model to support the provision of integrated services across all business streams involved in the delivery of localised services...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I should state at the outset that eligibility for Carer’s Allowance is not based on the type of impairment or disease but on the level of the care requirement consequent on the impairment. Carers’ Allowance is payable to those providing full-time care and attention to a care recipient where the recipient of care is aged 16 or over and so incapacitated as to require full-time...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Code Reform (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: In 2014 the Department will spend a total of almost €2 billion in respect of the three schemes mentioned, domiciliary care allowance (DCA), disability allowance (DA) and carer’s allowance (CA). The review of the continued entitlement of a former DCA recipient (parent/guardian) to CA is not dependent in any way on whether the child who turns 16 years either claims or is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Funding (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: Community employment (CE) is the largest employment programme of the Department. It aims to enhance the employability and mobility of disadvantaged and unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. In addition, it helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exchequer Savings (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services and serves a wide and diverse group of customers including families, people in employment, unemployed people, people with disabilities, carers, and older people. The overall aim of the Department is to provide people with the information, financial support and other services that they require in a timely and customer friendly...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The reintroduction of the Christmas bonus, albeit on a partial basis, along with the other welfare measures announced in the Budget are real indicators of the economic recovery and the Government’s ambition to ensure it will be a recovery felt by all. This is the first Budget where we have had the scope to make real positive improvement for welfare recipients. This is evidenced by the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Pensions Authority has the power under section 18 of the Pensions Act to investigate the state or conduct of a pension scheme. I would ask you to bring any concerns you have in relation to the conduct of the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme to the attention of the Pensions Authority. The Authority can then consider whether or not these concerns warrant an investigation under section...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Personal Insolvency Practitioners (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The reduction in the bankruptcy period from 12 to 3 years, and the reduction from €1,400 to approximately €700 in the official costs associated with bankruptcy have made bankruptcy a more viable option for a debtor struggling with debt to return to solvency. I am advised by my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality, with responsibility for the Insolvency Service of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud Investigations (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: Child benefit is a payment to parents for the support of their children. It is paid to some 616,276 families in respect of 1.18 million children as at 30 November 2014, with an expenditure of approximately €1.9 billion in 2014. Safeguarding the child benefit budget is a priority and, in this regard the Department has taken a proactive approach to ensuring that it is only paid to...