Results 11,901-11,920 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) scheme operates from the beginning of June until the end of September each year. A person may qualify for a BSCFA payment if he or she is in receipt of a social welfare or health service executive payment, is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education or training course, and has household...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: In order to satisfy the medical conditions for receipt of disability allowance a person must be suffering from an injury, disease, congenital deformity or physical or mental illness or defect which has continued or may reasonably be expected to continue for a period of at least a year and as a result of the condition the person is substantially restricted in undertaking work which would...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: As part of a review of the continued entitlement to disability allowance of the person concerned, her medical suitability was assessed by one of the Department's medical assessors who was of the opinion that she was no longer medically suitable for disability allowance. A deciding officer accepted this opinion and the person's claim was disallowed. A letter issued to the person on 26 May...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: An application for the State pension non-contributory (SPNC) from the person concerned was received on the 11th July 2011. The file has been forwarded to the local social welfare inspector (SWI) for investigation of the customer's entitlement to SPNC. He will be contacted shortly by the SWI to be interviewed regarding his application. When the SWI has completed her report, the file will be...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The person concerned is currently in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance at a weekly rate of €250.40. Family Income Support is a weekly payment for payments for families at work on low pay. It is not subject to income tax and does not affect medical card eligibility. If the person concerned commences employment for 30 hours per week at a weekly rate of €250.00, he may be entitled to claim...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: Family income supplement has been awarded to the person in question with effect from 21 April 2011. First payment, including arrears due, has recently been lodged to the person's nominated bank account. Payment will continue for 52 weeks as long as qualifying conditions are met.

Written Answers — Departmental Properties: Departmental Properties (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The significant increase in the Live Register over the past number of years has placed additional pressures on my Department's local offices in terms of providing a satisfactory service to the public. The Department accepts that as a consequence, some of its buildings require refurbishment, extensions or, in some cases, replacement. The Department relies on the Office of Public Works (OPW)...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The farm assist scheme is a means-tested payment broadly similar to the jobseeker's allowance scheme. It features a more generous means test, which takes account of the specific nature of farming and, unlike jobseeker's allowance, farmers claiming this payment do not need to be available for work outside of the farm in order to qualify. In recent years changes have been made to farm assist...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The appropriate level of overall expenditure by my Department in the years ahead will be considered in the context of Budget 2012 and subsequent Budgets. Sustainable public finances are a prerequisite for maintaining an adequate system of social protection as well as achieving future economic stability and growth. To this end, the State must pursue a determined deficit reduction strategy....

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The JobBridge scheme contains a number of measures to minimise displacement including the following: all Host Organisations must declare in their application that they are not displacing an employee and that they have no vacancy in the specific area; the JobBridge team check all applications against recent vacancies advertised on the FÁS Jobs Ireland website; if the JobBridge team...

Written Answers — Social Insurance: Social Insurance (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which entitles them to access long-term benefits such as State pension (contributory) and widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's pension (contributory). Ordinary employees who have access to the full range of social insurance benefits pay Class A PRSI at the rate of 4%. In addition, their employers make a PRSI...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The JobBridge scheme has a number of measures designed to protect the intern and to ensure the integrity of the JobBridge scheme. In order for all applications from host organisations to be approved they must meet a number of criteria so as to ensure that the potential internships are of sufficient quality. These include the following: that the internship does not allow the intern to work...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (12 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, came into operation on 1st July 2011. My Department has been given sanction to offer at any one time 5,000 internships for unemployed individuals. As of Friday 7th October a total of 1,769 individuals have commenced an internship. In addition, there are currently 2,477 internships opportunities being advertised on the JobBridge website. While I am...

Social Welfare Fraud (13 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of the Department, which processes in excess of 2 million claims each year and makes payments to some 1.4 million people every week. However, it is important to recognise that the majority of people receive the entitlement due to them. In terms of control work, in 2009 nearly 751,000...

Social Welfare Fraud (13 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: We have figures up to August, as the year is not complete yet. There were 401,000 reviews up to that date and these resulted in some €388 million in control savings. This compares with €281 million achieved in the same period last year. Therefore, the staff of the Department are doing very well on this. The reviews are yielding more control savings. We will know the total outturn by...

Social Welfare Fraud (13 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: What is different is that we are targeting the use of the investigators. In other words, they are targeting areas where there may be evidence to suggest there are problems. This has been a particular feature of the work of the Department recently and I have stressed that this is important. We have continued to conduct a huge number of reviews, which involves writing to people to check...

Employment Support Services (13 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: JobBridge, the national internship scheme, is part of the Government's job initiative and was launched on 1 July 2011. As of last Friday, a total of 2,477 internship opportunities with host organisations were available on the website. To date 1,769 interns have commenced an internship under the JobBridge scheme. Of these, 625 individuals have converted their work placement programme...

Employment Support Services (13 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: Over 4,000 employers have offered to host internships. JobBridge is an internship and work experience programme, not a job. Of those 4,000 employers, only 2,500 have had the request to host an internship accepted. In some cases, more must be done because the specifications do not meet the requirements. It is important to avoid displacement. In the hotel and catering industry, Fáilte...

Employment Support Services (13 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: There are a series of monitoring processes, including the steering committee chaired by Mr. Martin Murphy, CEO of HP, which meets on a regular basis. There is also a stakeholders' group and we take into account the advice of stakeholders, including employers' organisations and trade unions. Internationally, there is recognition that a good quality internship is an opportunity for people who...

Employment Support Services (13 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: -----apply to people at different levels. The feedback is quite positive. Many people are voluntarily monitoring for us. There is a risk of displacement but the FÁS workers in the centre in Edenderry are doing work to make sure this aspect is dealt with at the beginning.