Results 12,121-12,140 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 273 together. The challenges facing the Irish pension system are significant. The fundamental principle is that people need to participate in the workforce for longer and they need to contribute more towards their pensions if they are to achieve the income they expect or would like to have in retirement. The population share of those aged 65 and over...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 252, 289 and 315 together. The purpose of rent supplement is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. Rent supplement is subject to a limit on the amount of rent that an...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 01 June 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 14 October...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 22 June 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 29 August...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in this case. There has been a very significant increase in the number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2007 when the intake was 14,070 to 2010 when the intake rose to 32,432. This has significantly...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an oral hearing of the appeal of the person concerned took place on 14 September 2011 and the Appeals Officer is now considering the appeal in the light of all the evidence submitted, including that adduced at the hearing. The person concerned will be notified of the Appeals Officer decision when the appeal has been determined. The...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 21 September 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Social Welfare Services on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred to an Appeals Officer in due...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. In addition, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of the Department. Employees of the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board and the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman are paid...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received on 22nd August 2011. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department's Medical Assessors for their medical opinion on the case. Upon receipt of this opinion, a decision will issue to the customer. It should be noted that it is currently taking up to ten weeks to process an application.

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: There are no full-time staff allocated to the Social Welfare Tribunal. One member of staff from my Department acts as Secretary to the Tribunal as part of their normal duties. The Tribunal consists of a Chairperson and four ordinary members, two nominated by ICTU and two nominated by IBEC. All are appointed by the Minister. The Chairperson and members do not receive an annual salary but...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: I confirm that an application for carer's allowance has been received from the person in question. On completion of the necessary investigations relating to all aspects of his claim a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome. The average time taken to process a claim to completion, including assessment of the claimant's means and the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The community welfare service (CWS) and the community welfare officers providing it transferred formally to the Department of Social Protection (DSP) from 1 October 2011. The service and the staff are now part of the DSP. The person concerned made an application for rent supplement on 19th September 2011. The person concerned has been requested to provide further documentation in order to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal, from the person concerned, was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in the case. There has been a very significant increase in the number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2007 when the intake was 14,070 to 2010 when the intake rose to 32,432. This has significantly...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The information requested is currently being compiled within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The name of my Department was changed to the Department of Social Protection by the previous Government, following an announcement by the then Taoiseach, in March 2010 regarding a redistribution of Departmental responsibilities, affecting a number of Departments. Additional costs of €30,000 approx. were incurred by my Department in terms of website amendments, stationery costs, changes to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the illness benefit claim, of the person concerned, was disallowed following an examination by a Medical Assessor of the Department who expressed the opinion that he was capable of work. An appeal was registered on 07 October 2011 and in accordance with the statutory procedures the relevant department papers and the comments of the Social...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The community welfare service (CWS), and the community welfare officers providing it, transferred formally to the Department of Social Protection (DSP) from 1 October 2011. The service and the staff are now part of the DSP. There is no record of an application for mortgage interest supplement (MIS) from the persons concerned. If they wish to have their entitlement to MIS assessed, then they...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The range of payment options offered by my Department includes payment at a local post office via electronic information transfer (EIT), through a bank, building society or certain credit unions via electronic funds transfer (EFT) or payment by cheque. At present, An Post can direct pension and child benefit payments transferred via EFT into An Post State Savings Accounts. Consideration is...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The community welfare service (CWS) and the community welfare officers providing it transferred formally to the Department of Social Protection (DSP) from 1 October 2011. The service and the staff are now part of the DSP. When the person concerned was awarded his rent supplement payment in June 2011 it was on the basis that he would have his housing needs assessed by the local authority....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Oct 2011)

Joan Burton: The person concerned may make an application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA). In order to qualify for DCA, a child must have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person, effectively full-time, so that the child can deal...