Results 14,301-14,320 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 18th January 2012. 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 in due course to an...

Written Answers — Departmental Advertising: Departmental Advertising (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection does not directly place advertisements in the national newspapers for job vacancies. The Public Appointments Service (PAS) is responsible for the recruitment of staff and advertising posts on behalf of the Department. In the past 12 months positions advertisements were placed by PAS to recruit 4 interns under the Job Bridge Initiative and a total of 517...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the carer's allowance appeal, by the person concerned, was registered in that office on 15th February 2012. 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. When received, the appeal in question will be...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The person concerned was found eligible for Domiciliary Care Allowance by an Appeals Officer. She was notified on 15th December 2011 that her claim was awarded.

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: A redundancy lump sum claim in respect of the person concerned was manually submitted on 6 January 2012. There are two categories of claims being dealt with at present, namely, claims received since the introduction of a new online system on 3 October 2011 and claims received prior to that date. For manually submitted claims received since the start of October 2011 we are currently...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 425 and 426 together. As an exception to the current moratorium on recruitment across the civil and public service, the Department has received limited sanction to recruit temporary clerical officers to provide cover for staff who are absent on a temporary basis due to, for example, sick leave or maternity leave. When filling a vacancy the Department is...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Board and the Social Welfare Tribunal. In addition, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of the Department but it does not have a Board. Citizens Information Board Ms. Sylda Langford (Chairperson) and Ms. Noeline Blackwell have volunteered to waive...

Written Answers — Ministerial Transport: Ministerial Transport (28 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: A Cabinet decision was made in March 2011 confining the use of State cars with effect from the 01 May 2011 and accordingly I now use my own car for official business. The travel/mileage allowance rates payable depend on the car engine size and also incorporate a number of expense elements associated with the cost of running a car. These cost elements include insurance, full membership of...

Job Losses (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: I thank Deputy Keaveney for raising this important matter. I heard about the redundancies in Rehab with great regret. However, I emphasise that they do not arise as a result of any reduction in funding by the Department of Social Protection. As Deputy Keaveney is aware, the Department of Social Protection has recently taken over full responsibility for the wage subsidy scheme since the...

Job Losses (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: I await with interest the outcome of the discussions between SIPTU and the Rehab director. I take the points made by Deputy Keaveney. We have just taken over the wage subsidy scheme since the relevant division of FÁS joined the Department on 1 January. Recently, I launched the EmployAbility Service, which provides job coaches and other supports to individuals with a disability seeking...

Written Answers — Rural Social Scheme: Rural Social Scheme (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: An underlying aim of the RSS is to provide low-income farmers and fisherpersons with work-like opportunities, harness their skills and talents and apply these to the benefit of the local community. While the types of work that are undertaken are determined locally, it is a requirement of the RSS that the works are consistent with the terms and conditions of the scheme, that the placement...

Written Answers — Tax and Social Welfare Codes: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: My Department is preparing an analysis of the distributive and poverty impacts on families of the Budget 2012 tax and welfare package, in conjunction with the Department of Finance. This analysis is currently being finalised. I will arrange for the analysis to be published on the Department's website in March 2012, in line with the arrangements I put in place last year. There are no plans...

Written Answers — Tax and Social Welfare Codes: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: In my discussions with my colleagues in Government about measures announced in Budget 2012, I had regard to any views expressed by disability organisations as well as other welfare representative organisations generally. In this regard, I held a Pre-Budget Forum on 16th September 2011. This was attended by 34 organisations, including organisations representing people with disabilities, and...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: Migraine is accepted as a certifiable medical condition. Eligibility to illness related benefit/allowance is determined by its severity and expected duration. The medical assessment is made in accordance with the Department's evidence based medical guidelines and protocols.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The Carer's Association has been in contact with my office regarding the habitual residence condition for carers. Carers allowance is a means tested social assistance payment made to persons who are unable to work because they are providing full time care and attention to elderly people or people with disabilities. Expenditure on carers has increased by 550% over the last ten years. In...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the disability allowance claim of the person concerned was disallowed following an assessment by a Medical Assessor who expressed the opinion that he was medically unsuitable for the allowance. An appeal was registered on 24 November 2011 and in accordance with the statutory procedures the relevant department papers and the comments of...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The qualifying conditions for State pension (transition) require the applicant to · have entered insurable employment before attaining the age of 55 years · have at least 260 paid contribution weeks, since entry into insurance · have a yearly average of at least 24 paid/credited contributions. According to the records of the Department, the person concerned has self-employment...

Written Answers — Child Poverty: Child Poverty (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 121 and 122 together. Plans to tackle child poverty are outlined in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 (NAPSincl) and in the Programme for Government. The Government is committed to achieving the targets in the NAPsincl to reduce the number of people experiencing poverty. These targets are currently being reviewed to ensure that they...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 16 August 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 17...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Feb 2012)

Joan Burton: The person concerned is in receipt of disablement pension at the weekly rate of €43.80 and one-parent family payment of €217.80 per week. She is also in receipt of rent supplement of €600.64 per month. This rate is calculated on the basis of her weekly one-parent family and disablement payments.