Results 31,901-31,920 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Work Family Dividend Scheme (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Approximately 6,500 customers have transitioned from the one-parent family payment to the back to work family dividend since the final phase of the one-parent family payment scheme reforms took place on 2 July, 2015.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department monitors on an ongoing basis all social welfare income support schemes including the one-parent family payment scheme. One of the key aims of the one-parent family payment scheme reforms is to maximise the opportunities for lone parents to enter into and increase employment by providing them with enhanced access to the wide range of education, training, and employment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Child Benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a physical or mental disability. Child Benefit is currently paid to around 610,000 families in respect of some 1.16 million children, with...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 65,000 people at a cost of €298 million in 2015. Over 13,700 rent supplement tenancies have been awarded this year, of which almost 4,300 are in Dublin, showing that landlords are accommodating significant numbers under the scheme. A review of the rent limits...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Carers Strategy (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: In recognition of the vital contribution made by carers, the Government published a National Carers’ Strategy in 2012 to signal its commitment to recognising and respecting carers as crucial care partners and to respond to their needs, across a number of policy areas. Under this strategy, the Department assists carers by providing a range of income supports. These include carer's...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2015 Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure of almost €89 million on the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Review (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The Free Travel Scheme permits customers to travel for free on most CIE public transport services, LUAS and a range of services offered by up to 90 private operators in various parts of the country. Free travel is also available on cross border journeys to and from Northern Ireland. Customers aged 66 years and over can travel for free on journeys within Northern Ireland. There are...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Waiting Times (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department assists carers by providing a range of income supports. These include carer's allowance (CA), carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance and respite care grant (RCG). €822 million is provided for these payments in 2015. CA is the main income support. Since 2004 the number of people in receipt of CA has increased from over 23,000, to just over 58,000 at the end of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: JobPath is a new approach to resourcing the provision of employment services to people who are long-term unemployed or at high risk of becoming long-term unemployed. Two providers of employment services have been contracted under JobPath to work with jobseekers and to assist them to secure and sustain full-time paid employment or self-employment. A public procurement process, conducted in...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Water Conservation Grant (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection, on behalf of the Department of Environment, Community, and Local Government (DECLG), is paying the €100 per annum Water Conservation Grant to households (primary dwellings) which registered their principal private residence with Irish Water by 30th June 2015. 1.3 million registrations were made by the deadline and Irish Water has transferred a file...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 65,000 people at a cost of €298 million in 2015. Over 13,700 rent supplement tenancies have been awarded this year, of which almost 4,300 are in Dublin, showing that landlords are accommodating significant numbers under the scheme. A review of the rent limits...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The terms of employment for persons employed as Supervisors on DSP-funded Community Employment (CE) schemes are a contractual matter between the employer (CE Sponsor) and the employee (Supervisor). Employers (including CE Sponsoring Organisations) are legally obliged to offer access to at least one Standard Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) under the Pension (Amendment) Act 2002....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: A key qualifying condition for the payment of carer’s allowance is that the person receiving care is medically assessed as needing care on a full-time basis, while a person in receipt of carer’s allowance can engage in employment, self-employment, training or education outside the home for up to 15 hours per week and still qualify for the payment. I am satisfied that this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Reform (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The Report on Pension Charges, undertaken by my Department, working with the Central Bank and the Pensions Authority, was completed and published in October 2012 and was the first comprehensive Government report on this subject. The report culminated in recommendations which involve measures to introduce clarity and consistency across the various pension products, increase consumer...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 65,000 people at a cost of €298 million in 2015. Over 13,700 rent supplement tenancies have been awarded this year showing that landlords are accommodating significant numbers under the scheme. A review of the rent limits undertaken earlier this year found that...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Services for People with Disabilities (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The Government is anxious to facilitate increasing participation in employment for persons with a disability. The Department provides a wide range of work related supports for people with disabilities which play an important role in supporting participation by people with disabilities in the labour force. These include the wage subsidy scheme, the EmployAbility (supported employment)...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: There are approximately 65,000 rent supplement recipients, of which over 24,700 are in Dublin, for which the Government has provided a total of over €298 million in 2015. Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant; the tenant makes the application for rent supplement and, subject to the tenant satisfying the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Expenditure (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 65,000 people at a cost of €298 million in 2015. Over 13,700 rent supplement tenancies have been awarded this year, of which almost 4,300 are in Dublin, showing that landlords are accommodating significant numbers under the scheme. A review of the rent limits...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Budget 2015 was the first Budget in recent years where there was scope to make improvements for welfare recipients, and in this regard, I was pleased to be in a position to increase Child Benefit by €5 per child per month, to increase the Living Alone Allowance, which is paid to pensioners and people with disabilities who live alone, to €9 per week, and introduce a new Back to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: In line with the Statement of Government Priorities, in January of this year the Government decided to proceed with work to develop a roadmap and timeline for the introduction of a new, universal, supplementary workplace retirement saving system. This work is being progressed by a Universal Retirement Savings Group (URSG), the broad role of which is to consider the constituent factors...