Results 31,861-31,880 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----is that we get as many people of working age as possible back to work.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The second thing is that we protect people who are vulnerable-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----particularly pensioners on fixed incomes, from any reductions in their core weekly payments. That is what we have done since we came into government.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: We made different choices to Fianna Fáil.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: We made different choices to Fianna Fáil but, as a consequence-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----we have got so many people back to work and we have protected people's pensions.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: I am not familiar with the case to which the Deputy just referred. If she would care to give me the details - the name of the employer, company number and so on - I will get her a report on the case. I cannot reply to her on the spot about that particular question because I was not made aware of it. The Deputy did not reference it in her question. Under the provisions of the Protection...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: It is a very difficult legal area. I will outline some of the difficulties. We have reformed the insolvency payments scheme. People are now paid their entitlements very rapidly. It has been transformed since the payments were taken over by the Department of Social Protection. However, the law is, in general, not in the remit of my Department but in that of the Department of Jobs,...

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The contributory State pension is based on contributions paid and credited over the course of the pensioner’s working life. Receipt is not subject to means testing or residence in Ireland. EU regulations treat such social insurance-based payments across the EU as being exportable. This is the insurance-based payment.

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: In other words, payment is not subject to residence in the country in which the contributions were paid in the first instance. On the other hand, the non-contributory State pension is a means-tested payment based upon habitual residence in Ireland. It is a scheme to help older people living in Ireland to avoid poverty, particularly those who have no other provision for old age. There is...

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: They should do so.

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: As I said, if the Deputy will give me the details of the case, we can check it. If the people go to their local office and explain the circumstances, we have the capacity to be flexible. I have to be very honest with the Deputy and clear on this. The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland as part of the social welfare system was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain...

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: We have much flexibility and I advise the Deputy to pass the details of the case to my office and to bear in mind that the State is constantly sued or threatened with legal proceedings if we do not strictly enforce habitual resident conditions. There have been recent cases of people who had spent some time in Ireland but were caring for people in another part of the EU claiming the carer's...

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The one-parent family payment scheme reforms aim to maximise the opportunities for lone parents to enter into, or increase their level of, employment. The Department has contacted those lone parents who have transitioned from one-parent family payment, who are working part-time and who may have experienced a reduction. These customers were invited to attend a one-to-one meeting with a case...

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Of the 25,500 customers who left the lone-parent payment scheme on 2 July 2015, approximately 13,600, half of them, moved to jobseeker's transitional payment, 2,500, 10%, moved to the jobseeker's assistance scheme, and approximately 8,000 moved to family income supplement. When one adds the back to work family dividend, most people experienced an improvement. Approximately 5,000 households...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments Administration (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy said, approximately 25,500 lone parents transitioned from the one-parent family payment scheme on 2 July 2015. Approximately 13,600 of lone parents moved to the jobseeker’s transitional payment. In fact, as the Deputy knows, they would have had no change in their income from the lone parent's allowance. However, once a parent's youngest child is seven years old, he or...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments Administration (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: As I have said on a number of occasions, we want to ensure in the forthcoming budget that out of the additional moneys we will be able to spend between €1.2 billion and €1.5 billion. We want to focus in particular on families with children, retired people and those on long-term social welfare payments. The amount of money we have to spend is significant, although it is not as...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Payments Administration (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: In fact, therefore, we anticipate that people working on low incomes will receive a considerable boost both through a wage increase and the back-to-work family dividend. That will then set them up to be much better off than they would be by simply living entirely on social welfare.

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The marriage bar is a term used to describe a rule that existed in most of the public service and some private sector employments, whereby women were expected to leave their employment upon marriage. The bar was removed when Ireland joined the European Economic Community in 1973. Where such employees were in the public service, they paid a modified rate of PRSI. These contributions...

Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: What age is she?