Results 15,221-15,240 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: Yes, if they have contributions.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I will try to get more detailed statistics for the Deputy.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I accept the point the Deputy is making about next January.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I am saying that the statistics we have suggest that the number of people who will be affected by that will be relatively small. I have mentioned that it is worth bearing in mind in this context that approximately 82% of lone parents are Irish nationals, but 18% or 19% of them are not.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: People in the latter group might be more likely not to have contributions for survivor status under our regulations relating to widows etc. That is particularly true if they moved to this country when their children were already quite old. It would depend on the circumstances. A significant number of lone parents in our system are not Irish - they came to Ireland from other countries.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: It will affect people who come into a lone parent situation after that date and all of whose children are above the relevant age. The average duration of a one-parent family payment is 6.1 years. Of those receiving the payment, 10% of them have been doing so for one year or less, 13% have been doing so for between one and two years, 28% have been doing so for between two and five years, 12%...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: People who are entirely new to the system will be affected next week. I remind the Deputy, in response to his query, that a significant cohort of the 92,000 lone parents in this country do not come from Ireland. As I have said, approximately 18% of payments are made to non-Irish nationals. British nationals are the single largest group within the non-national category. As the Deputy...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: Absolutely.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: Not at all.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: The CSO statistics do not capture what the Deputy is seeking. I contend, conservatively, that the figure runs to tens of thousands. As the Deputy says, many young parents are in good employment and do not claim any allowances at all. The Deputy is absolutely correct in that regard. I do not know how the CSO statistics are compiled. The Deputy may look at some of the statistics on women in...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: There is actually no minimum age. I have no knowledge of the relationship status. Since our system was introduced, it has always been very supportive. In the early 1990s, a person who received a lone-parent's allowance had to stay at home and do nothing, even if a parent or older sister was available to help with child care. The first move was to encourage very young lone parents to stay...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme 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. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I was very pleased to launch the report Person or Number? in February and I welcome the research undertaken by Crosscare, Doras Luimní and Nasc into difficulties experienced by some migrants in their dealings with the Department. The report makes a number of recommendations and the Department is considering these. In particular, the recommendation that the Department establishes a Migrant...

Written Answers — Legislative Programme: Legislative Programme (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: Since the publication of the Report, the Department have been engaged in discussions with the relevant medical health professionals and with representatives from interested NGOs. The Department has also sought advice from the Office of the Attorney General on the main issues arising in the context of these meetings. These discussions, and the advice that is received from the Office of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: Where a person who is under 25 years of age is living with a parent or step-parent in the family home, an assessment is made of the yearly value of any benefit and privilege enjoyed by that person by virtue of residing with a parent or step parent. The value of the benefit and privilege assessed is based on the level of the parents' income. The information requested by the Deputy is not...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 19, 26 and 30 together. The Department is committed to providing a high quality service to our customers. It offers a range of payment options to customers which include payment at the post office of the customer's choice. Alternatively, most customers, other than those in receipt of jobseeker's payments, can choose to be paid into either a bank or...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 102 together. In the last four years the numbers in receipt of a jobseeker's payment who are also working on a part-time or casual basis has increased by almost 200%. At the end of March 2012 there were some 84,118 people in this situation on the Live Register and some 41,008 of these were claiming jobseeker's benefit. In line with other Budget...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 25 together. The average time taken to award an application for disability allowance in 2011 was 17 weeks. The average time taken to award an application for disability allowance in the first quarter of 2012 is not currently available, as claims are being processed on both a new system and the old system since the beginning of February 2012....

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: A total of 345 staff have retired from my Department since March 2011. There are currently 6,855 permanent staff serving in the Department, equating to 6,443 posts. The figure requested in relation to the amount of wages spent on contract and permanent staff is not readily available and will be forwarded separately to the Deputy. Since March 2011 some 180 critical vacancies have been filled...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 35 together. The Department is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. As is apparent from the data in the following table, schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of illness related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested payments...