Results 10,241-10,260 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Employment Support Services (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: I refer to the selection of people for this initiative. The only detailed information I have is the response to the two pilot studies that were undertaken. The Deputy might be interested to know that of 119 people, 100 of them, or 84%, replied to the invitation to participate. Only one person left the live register and 71% of those contacted expressed an interest in participating. This...

Employment Support Services (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: The scheme, as I inherited it, and provided for in the budget for this year, has an expenditure of €30 million. That makes provision for both the employment supervisors and for a top-up of €20 per week. I wish our financial circumstances allowed for a greater level but within the constraints of the budget that is all that has been made available. I am, however, encouraged by the level...

Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: The challenge for this new Government is unlike any faced before. The priority of this Government is to get our economy moving, restore confidence, fix our banking system and support the protection and creation of jobs. The success of our economic plans will lay the foundation for the rest of our agenda for change and the jobs initiative being announced today is the first step in this...

Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: I thank the Deputy for his remarks and I share his concerns about children who are experiencing poverty; all Members share that concern. I reiterate the commitment in the programme for Government on social welfare rates by both parties but resources are constrained. Before the budget for 2012, there will be a poverty impact study by the Department and in addition, a comprehensive review of...

Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: The most important anti-poverty strategy the country has ever had will be to get people who are unemployed through no fault of their own back into a job. There are those in every town and village in Ireland who never expected or wished to be unemployed but who have lost their jobs or businesses. The primary job of this Government is to ensure people get back to work. That is the strongest...

Employment Support Services (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: The jobseeker's schemes provide income support for people who are seeking their first job or have lost work and are seeking alternative employment. A fundamental qualifying condition for the jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's allowance is that a person must be available for and genuinely seeking full-time work. To satisfy this condition, it is necessary for the person to demonstrate that he...

Employment Support Services (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: With regard to the first part of his question the relevant legislation came into force in January 2011. However, for operational reasons the application of the provisions commenced in April 2011. I understand that currently a very small number of claimants are subject to the provisions. The number of people who have been affected so far amounts to seven. I remind the Deputy that people are...

Employment Support Services (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: Yes, the rates were established by the previous Minister when the legislation was introduced. I wish to be clear on this matter. The vast majority of people who are registered as unemployed are anxious to find work and to return to work. However, it is equally important that, for instance, a very young person does not regard being on social welfare as a lifetime option. It is not good for...

Employment Support Services (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: I have been a public representative for nearly 20 years, having been a volunteer and activist knocking on doors. People have always raised the point about a one-stop-shop which would allow them go to one location to access the full range of their entitlements. The community welfare officers and the employment services division of FÁS will be integrated into my Department. In this way we...

Social Welfare Code (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: In determining entitlement to disability allowance, the social welfare code provides that the first €50,000 of capital is disregarded in the means assessment. Thereafter, weekly means are assessed at €1 per week for each €1,000 of capital between €50,000 and €60,000; at €2 per week for each €1,000 of capital between €60,000 and €70,000 and at €4 per week for each €1,000...

Social Welfare Code (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: Court funds that are held for the benefit of wards of court are private funds under the control of the Courts Service. Through its offices in the High, District and Circuit Courts, the service has responsibility for the management and investment of funds in court. The courts are subject only to the Constitution and the law and are independent in the exercise of their judicial functions. It...

Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: The average time taken to award a claim for carer's allowance in the first quarter of 2011 was 12 weeks. A total of 3,815 applications were registered in the first quarter of 2011 and 3,883 were processed in the same period. Some 4,509 applications are awaiting a decision at present. Approximately 51,000 carer's allowance claims are in payment. I acknowledge that the time taken to process...

Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: In 2010, the average time it took to award a claim for carer's allowance was eight weeks. Some 18,212 applications for carer's allowance were made and some 16,629 claims were processed in that year. The main reason for the deterioration in the processing time is that major modernisation work is ongoing. That work will be completed and the new system will be started by July of this year....

Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: I expect completion of the information technology modernisation programme will significantly improve processing times from July onwards. I did not hear the announcement made today by the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin. I accept that an additional 22 staff is small in the context of the number employed in the Department, which currently stands at approximately 5,000. However, since my...

Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: I do not have detailed information on appeal times, but I will send it to the Deputy.

Departmental Schemes (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 42, 45, 52, 57, 68, 168 and 191 together. The Minister for Finance announced the introduction of a community work placement initiative for up to 5,000 persons in the Budget Statement to Dáil Éireann on 7 December 2010. The initiative, known as Tús, was launched on 21 December 2010 and work on developing the necessary implementation structures has been...

Departmental Schemes (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: I was very encouraged when I first heard about Tús on entering the Department. I was under the impression that many of the places had been taken up and was surprised to find that while there had been four or five announcements on the launch of the initiative, other than the pilot scheme involving 119 people in two local development company areas, Tús had not commenced. I have now spent a...

Departmental Schemes (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: County Offaly has been offered 100 Tús places with five supervisors. While I acknowledge the Deputy's point in respect of the selection of supervisors, I inherited this scheme and the legislation relating to it from my predecessor, the Deputy's distinguished colleague.

Departmental Schemes (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: One reason for the inclusion of random selection was that one measure in the programme agreed by the previous Government with the troika was to provide for activation measures, some of which would be based on random selection. In response to Deputy Ó Snodaigh's question on the possibility of someone like me, who is not the greatest person at football or hurling, being selected, this is about...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (10 May 2011)

Joan Burton: The challenge for this new Government is unlike any faced before. The priority of this Government is to get our economy moving, restore confidence, fix our banking system and support the protection and creation of jobs. The success of our economic plans will lay the foundation for the rest of our agenda for change and the jobs initiative being announced today is the first step in this...