Results 28,921-28,940 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Appointments to State Boards (4 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Pensions Council, the Pensions Ombudsman (which does not have a Board) and the Social Welfare Tribunal. No senior civil servants, who retired since 2011 from my Department, have been appointed, at any stage, to the boards of any of these...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Last Tuesday I announced in my Second Stage address on the Social Welfare Bill that I was proposing to amend the July arrangements for lone parents to ensure lone parents with a youngest child between the ages of 7 and 16 years who were providing full-time care for another person would be able to retain entitlement, or apply for entitlement, to the one-parent family payment and the half rate...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: We have introduced - this is ongoing - together with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, an after school child care service to assist lone parents taking up employment, generally on a part-time basis. This helps those who are employed, as well as those moving from the one-parent family payment to another. The service is available to children of primary school age and offers...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: I have looked at what has happened in other countries. Once a child reaches seven years of age - normally such a child would be in first class in primary school - we will create a transitional arrangement. The money involved for lone parents, many of whom are full-time, stay at home parents, does not change, but they are given an opportunity to become involved in education and training and,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: First, we are building a child care system. We are expanding and investing in it. The after-school child care service is an important addition. As the Deputy is probably aware, discussions are ongoing to determine if, as happens in many schools, school buildings can be used later in the afternoon as a location for after-school services. Some schools already run such services which are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: As the one-parent family payment reforms have been rolled out, I have introduced some significant changes to assist people, mainly women, through the transition. First, the introduction of the jobseeker's allowance transitional arrangement gives lone parents with young children the flexibility to work part time or engage in full-time education. Second, access to subsidised child care is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy is probably aware, in budget 2010 the previous Government amended the eligibility criteria for receipt of the student maintenance grant for individuals in receipt of either the back to education allowance or the vocational training opportunities scheme allowances. As a result of that amendment, individuals who were in receipt of the back to education allowance for all schemes...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: A total of 11,000 people have made a successful transition in recent years. Yesterday we discussed the numbers availing of family income supplement, which provides a major boost for people's income, those working either 19 hours or on a relatively low rate of payment. We are introducing the back to work family dividend. Furthermore, we have undertaken with the Department of Children and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection recently published a social impact assessment of the main tax and social welfare measures for 2015, based on the ESRI tax-welfare model, SWITCH. The analysis found there is no difference in the risk-of-poverty rate for men and women as a result of the last budget. The ESRI, on foot of a commission from the Equality Authority, has examined the impact of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Deputy's question asked whether an analysis had been done and I have told her it is available. She can access it in the Oireachtas Library.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The ESRI has carried out an analysis of what has happened. If the Deputy thinks about this she might appreciate what I am saying. One of the most significant cohorts of women who get income support from social welfare are women who are on the State retirement pension, either contributory or non-contributory. Some 34% of all spending on social welfare goes to people who have retired and are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Deputy clearly has a difficulty in accepting the work that has been done by the ESRI or the actuarial review of the Social Insurance Fund, which shows that women get the best value. The Deputy's question asked about an analysis regarding social welfare. I am telling her what the reports are showing. She needs to study them. They are not my reports, they are independent reports. I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Impact Assessment (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: That is why the budget analysis that the Department commissioned shows that this budget has benefited families with children, including lone parents, because as the Deputy knows, child benefit is a universal payment that is generally paid to the mother. It is paid to people regardless of whether they are in work or out of work. I would have thought the Deputy would have welcomed the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: I have read with interest the Children’s Rights Alliance report card for 2015 and its recommendations for Government action to tackle child poverty. In my view, the role of social transfers, which I referred to earlier, is not given enough weight in the report. The at-risk-of-poverty rate for children has fallen for the first time in three years by nearly 1 percentage point, from...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Altogether, the Department of Social Protection will spend almost €3 billion in 2015 in providing income support for families through child benefit, qualified child increases for people on social welfare, family income supplement, the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance and, as I said, increased resources for the schools meals programme, which is specifically aimed at...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: What the UNICEF report, the OECD report and all of the other reports show is that the worst cause of poverty among children is when the adults in the household lose their job or their business. Therefore, the best outcome one can get for children is that the adults in the household in which the children reside are in a position to get work, either on a full-time or a part-time basis,...

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: As Deputy Broughan is aware, the Labour Party is the party of work. While we want to have a strong social welfare system, we also want people of working age to be able to go to work, be financially independent and enjoy satisfying employment, a career and a life of financial independence. That is the Labour Party's position. Before I introduced the reforms, the one-parent family payment...

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: With the Deputy Broughan and other Deputies, I have had the privilege of meeting a significant number of community organisations in Dublin North-East at different times during the years and know that the Deputy is heavily involved in community employment and other initiatives to help people to get back to work. I know he is committed to this work. The changes being made are significant....

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The 11,000 people who have in the past three years made the transition have been able to avail of dedicated services from the Department of Social Protection - it is now a national employment service - that help people to access education, training, work experience and employment, including community employment. Last year we increased the number of community employment places by 2,000. We...

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Almost 70,000 lone parents are supported by the one-parent family payment at an estimated cost of approximately €607 million in 2015. Despite considerable levels of investment, however, lone parents are still significantly more at risk of consistent poverty compared with the population as a whole. The Survey on Income and Living Conditions in 2012 found that children in low work...