Results 27,981-28,000 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Support Services (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: JobsIreland (www.jobsireland.ie) is a free vacancy advertising and job search service provided by the Department of Social Protection to support both employers and jobseekers. Jobseekers may search for jobs opportunities by accessing the bs Ireland website, the bseeker app or by visiting their local Intreo/Employment Centre. To connect employers with prospective employees who meet their...

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

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. I am keeping the matter regarding rent limits under consideration and the review being undertaken by the Department will be finalised shortly. The Department is in a position of both significant influence in the private rented market and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Court Recommendations (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department’s position remains as outlined in the previous answers to the Deputy’s question on this topic. I refer you to Questions 98 and 99 of 21 October 2014. In July 2008, the Labour Court recommended that an agreed pension scheme should be introduced for Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors and that such a scheme should be adequately...

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

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. In the case of private rented accommodation, tenancy arrangements involve a contract between the landlord and the tenant. The Department has no relationship with the landlord and tenant behaviour is a matter for the landlord in the first instance....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The specific statistics requested by the Deputy are not routinely maintained by the Department. However, a recent query of system data shows that in the past 6 months (June to November 2014) 1,382 children whose parents were previously deemed eligible for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) have turned 16 and their DCA subsequently ceased. Of these 1,382 children, 458 have applied for...

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

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. I am keeping the matter regarding rent limits under consideration and the review being undertaken by the Department will be finalised shortly. The Department is in a position of both significant influence in the private rented market and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payment Application Numbers (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided €31.3 million for the scheme in 2014. In 2012 a Departmental working group made up of staff...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Legislation (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I requested the OECD to carry out a review of the Irish pension system in 2012. The OECD released its report (OECD Reviews of Pensions Systems – Ireland) in April 2013. One of the key recommendations in the report was to increase pensions coverage through a universal mandatory or quasi-mandatory employment based pension system. In line with this recommendation and with the Programme...

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

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. I am keeping the matter regarding rent limits under consideration and the review being undertaken by the Department will be finalised shortly. The Department is in a position of both significant influence in the private rented market and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Poverty (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: Government policy around tackling poverty for children and families has recently been articulated in the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People: Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, which adopted a child-specific social target for poverty reduction aiming to lift 70,000 children out of poverty by 2020, equivalent to a reduction of two-thirds on the 2011 rate. The Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy will be aware that I commissioned two reports relating to the Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) scheme during 2012. One of these reports dealt specifically with the relationship between DCA and disability allowance (DA) for young adults. A proposal to extend the age limit for receipt of DCA to 18 years of age was made as a recommendation in both of these reports, which were...

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

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection will administer, on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, a €100 water conservation grant for households that complete a valid response to Irish Water’s customer registration process. The grant will be paid to the registered householders annually, in respect of their primary dwellings, with the first...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Homeless Accommodation Provision (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection is actively engaging with Threshold in implementing measures to ensure that the housing needs of rent supplement customers who are in danger of becoming homeless are being addressed by providing for increased flexibility within the administration of the rent supplement scheme. I understand that the provision of resources for Threshold is a matter for the...

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 Benefit or Allowance is not based on the type of impairment or disease but on the level of the care requirement consequent on the impairment. The criteria for receipt of Carer’s Benefit or Allowance is that the recipient of care must be aged 16 or over and is so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention...

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

Joan Burton: Increasing the level of public service delivery to citizens through electronic channels is a key ingredient in creating a vibrant, modern and competitive Irish economy, offering scope to streamline processes and improve customer service. This objective is bedded into a range of Government initiatives including the Public Sector Reform Plan, e-Government Strategy and the Department’s...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the attached tabular statements. Please note that separate pending figures for dental benefit and optical benefit as requested are not available. Pending figures for treatment benefits as a whole are available, encompassing dental benefit, optical benefit and hearing aids. The treatment benefits pending figure at the end of May 2014 was...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Data (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 45 together. The Government’s primary strategy to reduce long-term and youth unemployment has been through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. This strategy is working. Employment has risen by about 85,000 since the recovery...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Anti-Poverty Strategy (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: One of the key objectives of Budget 2015 was to assist unemployed families to return to work. Through the new Back to Work Family Dividend scheme, long-term unemployed jobseekers with children who leave welfare to return to work can retain the child-related portion of their social welfare payment on a tapered basis over two years. This includes those who move to self-employment, such as the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The average appeal processing time for 2012, 2013 and 2014 broken down by all social welfare scheme types is outlined in the tables below. Appeal processing times peaked in 2011 when the average time for an oral hearing was 52.5 weeks and for a summary decision was 25.1 weeks. In 2012 the average processing time for an oral hearing dropped to 39.5 weeks and the time for a summary decision...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: In relation to disability allowance the number of children who qualified whose parents had previously been in receipt of domiciliary care allowance is 1064. The number of applications rejected is 299. This is for the twelve month period up to 30/11/14. Invalidity pension is a payment for insured people who are permanently incapable of work due to illness or incapacity. In order to qualify...