Results 29,041-29,060 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Officials of the Department are working actively with the Mediator, Unite, the trustees of the scheme and the scheme administrator on the implementation of the agreement. While discussions are continuing on elements of the implementation, it is my intention to ensure that the terms of the agreement are implemented as soon as possible. The scheme administrator wrote to the members of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Bodies Data (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 175 and 176 together. The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body responsible for supporting the provision of information, advice (including money and budgeting advice) and advocacy services to all citizens on a wide range of public and social services. One of the functions of the CIB, as defined in the Comhairle Act 2000 and the Citizens...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 6thFebruary 2015. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these papers have been received from the Department, the case in question will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The person concerned is in receipt of state pension (contributory), with effect from 20 June 2011, at the correct weekly rate of payment. The qualifying conditions for state pension (transition), to which the person concerned originally qualified from June 2010, his 65th birthday, required the applicant to: - have entered insurable employment before attaining the age of 55 years; - have at...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Relocation (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: In instances where a staff member seeks a transfer on medical grounds the case is referred for advice to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) who advises Departments on medical matters. At the time of the original referral, the CMO in her response did not state that there were medical grounds to accede to the request for an alternate location to that of the planned relocation of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The figures submitted by the Deputy were also provided to the Department at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection on 18 February 2015. At that time, my Departmental officials confirmed that while they are not 100% accurate, they are in the ball park. I am happy to again confirm while there is a small discrepancy for the July 2015 figures, it is not...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Support Services (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: While I acknowledge the valuable contribution the Irish Association of Supported Employment (IASE) is making in this area, I regret there is no provision in Department of Social Protection estimates to provide funding as proposed and IASE were advised accordingly at the end of last year. I would add that given that the HSE has responsibility for a wide range of supports for people with...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Appeals (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 9 January 2015. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these papers have been received from the Department, the case in question will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Appeals (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 19 February 2015. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers were received in the Social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (10 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: In the scenario provided by the Deputy, an individual working 19.5 hours on minimum wage, would earn approximately €169 a week. Together with the salary, and the figures provided for one-parent family payment (OFP) and family income supplement (FIS), and fuel allowance, this amounts to a cumulative total of €459 per week. It should be noted that Fuel Allowance is payable on OFP...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Data (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the attached tabular statement. Recipients of Disability Allowance and Illness Benefit at 31 December in each of the years 2010 to 2014 Disability Allowance Illness Benefit 2010 101,111 81,253 2011 102,866 73,397 2012 101,784 64,429 2013 106,279 58,990 2014 112,097 57,024

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The total number of 65 year olds currently in receipt of job seekers allowance (JA) is 2,358, a further 2,342 are in receipt of job seekers benefit (JB) and 2,483 were signing on for credits at the end of February 2015. Where individuals exit the workforce prior to pension age they may seek the support of either the jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance schemes....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Education and Training Provision (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Under national and EU regulations, food business operators must put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. The regulations requires that food business operators must ensure that food handlers are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Child benefit is a monthly universal payment made to families with children, which assists all parents with the cost associated with raising children. The Government is conscious that child benefit is an important source of income for all families. Child benefit is paid to around 616,000 families in respect of some 1.17 million children, with an estimated expenditure of around €1.9...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The person concerned made a claim for jobseekers allowance in Newbridge local office on 6 February 2015 and received her first payment on 3 March 2015. As supplementary welfare allowance was in payment from 22 January 2015, payment of arrears does not arise.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Domiciliary care allowance is awarded from the month following receipt of the application. An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on 10 February 2015. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Following receipt of this opinion, a decision will be made by a Deciding...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a payment to people on low incomes who are looking after a person who needs support because of age, disability or illness (including mental illness). To be entitled to CA the applicant must be providing full-time care and attention to a person in need of care who does not normally live in an institution. The qualifying criteria for CA do not exclude family...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme (12 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 45, 75 and 76 together. The free travel scheme permits free travel on most CIE public transport services, Luas and a range of services offered by some 80 private operators in various parts of the country for those eligible under the scheme. There are currently in excess of 810,000 customers with direct eligibility with an annual allocation of €77...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The correspondence enclosed with your question has been passed to a deciding officer for action in relation to the payment method of the person concerned.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (12 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 20th January 2015. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Following receipt of this opinion, a decision will be made by a Deciding Officer and notified to the person concerned. It can currently take 10 weeks to...