Results 31,821-31,840 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: I recall when I came into the office of Minister for Social Protection the deficit on the social insurance fund was €2 billion, which was a cause of great concern. Through very careful management we have actually reduced that deficit or, as some people in the media used to call it, the hole in the social insurance fund, to about €180 million, compared to the €2 billion...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: What we had in this country, and we were able to maintain it during the worst crisis in the country's history, was a contributory old age pension, which extends to all-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: -----self-employed people.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: What I am saying is that when we make decisions about the Social Insurance Fund we have to be prudent so that we do not take away or undermine what is a very valuable item in people's lives, namely, the contributory old age pension, the widow's and widower's pension and the maternity benefit, which self-employed people get.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: The Deputy is throwing out suggestions that it is possible for us, as we should-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: -----to extend, in particular, cover for illness-related issues-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: -----to self-employed people. I strongly support that but, to be honest, that has to be paid for. The well-regarded expert group said it could not be sustained if it was voluntary-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: -----and that for policy in Ireland it was not the best idea. We are talking about 1.5 additional contributions.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Activation Projects (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: I am very pleased that I will be launching the comprehensive employment strategy this Friday. I welcomed and supported the Disability Activation Project, which was jointly funded by the European Social Fund and the Department of Social Protection and ran from 2012 to April 2015 in the BMW regions. The objective of the project was to explore ways in which people with disabilities are enabled...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Activation Projects (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: I have not had sight of it for a while. I published reports but-----
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Activation Projects (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: As the Deputy will appreciate, the funding was EU funding. As Minister, I managed to identify and set up the programmes, which related in particular to young adults with disabilities, to help them access work, both in the open market and in terms of work amounting to more than eight hours a week because not everybody doing the programmes would have wanted to be involved in a very lengthy...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Activation Projects (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: It has been a very positive programme. What we hope to do with the next programme is learn from the first one and have a stronger programme.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Activation Projects (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: No. It will be very fast.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Activation Projects (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: I have a strong commitment to young adults with a disability. I am in the position of knowing a number of such young people personally throughout their lives. For friends and relations of mine who would have children in that situation, it is very important. We have mainstreamed many young people into primary and secondary school, and now into preschool, and as the Deputy is aware, there is...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Disability Activation Projects (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: -----the Department has been opening all of its access programmes relating to activation on a voluntary basis at a number of offices throughout the country to see whether people come forward and whether the new employment officers can help them. I will come back to the Deputy on this point. We started it earlier this year.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: I will give the Deputy some of the figures. The official indicator of poverty is consistent poverty, which is the overlap of two measures, namely, at risk of poverty and basic deprivation. The basic deprivation indicator includes two items relating to the consumption of food. According to the CSO survey of income and living conditions of 2013, which contains the most recent statistics we...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: The Deputy is wrong to attack the people who volunteer at the food bank and she should apologise to them.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: I was with people who work and volunteer with Crosscare. It is grand for the Deputy to make snide remarks about them. For her information, people have been involved in this work for generations. What is happening at present is that major supermarkets and other businesses are giving absolutely first-class food, which they would not otherwise be selling, in an organised way to Crosscare,...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: You were making snide remarks.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (30 Sep 2015)
Joan Burton: Not at all. The figures-----