Results 13,621-13,640 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 21 together. Two measures will be considered by the Advisory Group: increasing the minimum age for new claimants from 16 to 18 years of age with a corresponding extension in the age of entitlement for domiciliary care allowance from 16 to 18 years of age, and introducing lower age-related payments for new disability allowance claimants aged from 18 to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Child benefit assists parents with the cost of raising children and it contributes towards alleviating child poverty. The estimated expenditure on child benefit for 2012 is just under €2 billion in respect of some 1.16 million children. The Government recognises that welfare expenditure plays a vital role in protecting the most vulnerable people in Irish society, as well as stabilising the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 28 and 38 together. Rent supplement provides 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. Since 2005, rent supplement expenditure has increased from €369 million to a provisional...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is designed to provide support for people with families who are on low earnings. This preserves the incentive for them to remain in employment in circumstances where they might only be marginally better off than if they were claiming other social welfare payments. The payment amount is based on a fixed proportion of the gap between the assessable income of...

Written Answers — Medical Certificates: Medical Certificates (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 35 together. My Department pays fees to medical certifiers, who are mainly general practitioners, for the completion and issue of medical certificates for illness benefit and the completion of medical reports for various social welfare schemes. The fees are paid for the provision of medical opinion which is furnished on an official certificate or...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The purpose of Tús is the provision of quality short-term work for those who are unemployed for over a year. The aim is to break the cycle of unemployment and to improve a person's opportunities and readiness to return to the labour market. I consider the 12-month period on Tús to be adequate to meet the objectives of the initiative. Additionally, the rotation of work placements will...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 33 together. It is a requirement under the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion that Government Departments, local authorities and state agencies assess policies and programmes at design, implementation and review stages for their likely impact on poverty and on inequalities likely to lead to poverty, with a view to poverty reduction. As part of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The social welfare system is primarily a contingency-based system, with entitlement based on defined contingencies, such as sickness, unemployment, old age and widowhood. While it can happen that a person may experience more than one contingency at the same time - for example, an unemployed person may become sick - a general principle applies whereby even if a person experiences more than one...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, came into operation on 1st July 2011. As of 19th January, a total of 4,138 internships have commenced. My Department has invited tenders for consultancy for the evaluation of JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme for the Department. Progression rates from JobBridge into employment will feature as part of this evaluation. My Department requires...

Written Answers — Civil Registration Service: Civil Registration Service (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The administration of the Civil Registration Service is statutorily a matter for the Registrar General. I have made enquiries with the Registrar General and he has informed me that the general review of the provisions of the Civil Registration Act 2004 was completed in 2011. There are a range of issues to be considered in relation to the scope and implementation of any proposed changes to...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Those persons currently engaged on a Community Employment (CE) programme and in receipt of One-parent Family Payment will retain their concurrent payments less the increase for the qualified child paid on CE, until they have either exhausted their eligibility to participate on the scheme, they leave the scheme voluntarily or if they are still present on the scheme at the final cut-off date...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: In November 2010, my Department published a "Report on the Desirability and Feasibility of introducing a Single Payment for People of Working Age". The report concluded that it was both desirable and feasible to move to a single payment over time. There is a commitment contained in the agreed EU/ECB/IMF Programme of Financial Support, that Ireland will present a comprehensive programme of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department has been accepting new claims for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) since the 1st April 2009. Statistics relating to the allowance for the period prior to April 2009 are a matter for the HSE, the previous administrators of the scheme. The number of applicants for DCA that were received, awarded and refused in each year from April 2009 to 2011 is set out in table 1. Table 1 -...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Community Employment schemes provide a very important and valued contribution to social employment, training and progression for unemployed people. Furthermore, many Community Employment schemes provide vital community services right across the country. There are currently 1,143 CE schemes in operation nationally with 23,300 participants. I have protected the number of places on CE so that...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 27 and 47 together. Community Employment schemes provide a very important and valued contribution to social employment, training and progression for unemployed people. Furthermore, many Community Employment schemes provide vital community services right across the country. There are currently 1,143 CE schemes in operation nationally with 23,300 participants....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 30 and 113 together. There are currently almost 96,000 individuals in receipt of a rent supplement payment at a cost of some €500million to the State in 2011. Rent supplement is calculated to ensure that the person, after payment of rent, has an income equal to the basic supplementary welfare allowance rate, less a specified weekly minimum contribution...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The transitional payment was introduced to assist recipients of the one-parent family payment (OFP) in their transition to employment. Until 31 December, 2011, recipients of the OFP for 52 consecutive weeks, whose income exceeded the scheme's €425 weekly earnings disregard limit, were entitled to the transitional payment, which was paid at half of the rate of their OFP, for a period of 26...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 36 together. There are currently almost 96,000 individuals in receipt of a rent supplement payment at a cost of some €500million to the State in 2011. Two main initiatives are currently being pursued by the Department to transfer long-term rent supplement recipients to housing solutions supported by local authorities. These are the rental...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: There is little doubt that the recent reduction in the redundancy rebate to employers will have an impact on companies. However, a reduction in the size of the redundancy rebate would not necessarily reduce the size of redundancy payments made to workers. Many employers are anxious to ensure that their former employees are adequately compensated in the event of redundancy and pay their...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: As part of Budget 2012, the Government decided that the amount of earnings disregarded for the purposes of the One Parent Family Payment (OFP) means test would be reduced from €146.50 to €130.00 per week in 2012 for new and existing recipients. Further reductions will be introduced over the following four years. Evidence suggests that the earnings disregard has been successful in...