Results 15,721-15,740 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Civil Registration Act (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I thank Deputy Hayes for raising this important and sensitive issue. I appreciate it is of enormous difficulty and concern to many families. I am aware the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection examined this issue in the past. The provisions and procedures governing the registration of deaths in Ireland are contained in Part 5 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 and are as follows....

Civil Registration Act (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I thank Deputy Hayes for raising this issue. I understand its importance to many of the bereaved families. I have undertaken to have further legislation on civil registration. This is one of a number of matters which need to be addressed and it is my intention to do that when the heads of the Bill and so on have been drafted. There may be a role in that respect for the committee or for...

Written Answers — Civil Registration: Civil Registration (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Law Reform Commission, in its report Legal Aspects of Family Relationships, makes recommendations relating to the conduct of family relationships, including compulsory joint registration of the birth of a child where the parents are not married to each other. It is my intention to seek the approval of the Government later this year for the drafting of heads of a bill to amend the Civil...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: A financial review of Community Employment (CE) Schemes is underway and is nearing completion. This review of CE Schemes has proved to be a valuable exercise for both the schemes themselves and for my Department. Given the volume and breath of the data being returned, the financial review of CE schemes has taken longer than originally envisaged to complete. This has allowed more time for...

Written Answers — Mortgage Interest Supplement: Mortgage Interest Supplement (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 19th October 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Community Welfare Services 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...

Written Answers — Rural Social Scheme: Rural Social Scheme (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: Following a review of the rural social scheme (RSS) in 2011 by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Department undertook to re-examine a number of arrangements underpinning the operations of the RSS. This examination included a review of template for participant contracts which is provided by the Department to the 35 Implementing Bodies to ensure consistency of approach across the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: As per the Budget 2012, Community Employment (CE) participants in receipt of illness benefit or invalidity pension who commenced on CE before the 16th January 2012 and who have their CE contracts renewed after the 16th January 2012 will retain their original social welfare payment (in addition to their CE Single Adult Rate). The retention of their social welfare payment is dependent upon...

Written Answers — National Internship Scheme: National Internship Scheme (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The National Internship Scheme was launched on 1st July 2011. It provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals on the Live Register, at all skills levels. The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals in breaking the cycle where they are unable to get a job without experience. It provides them with an opportunity to gain valuable experience, relevant...

Written Answers — Job Creation: Job Creation (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The National Internship Scheme was launched on 1 July 2011. It provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals on the Live Register, at all skills levels. The aim of JobBridge is to assist individuals in breaking the cycle where they are unable to get a job without experience. It provides them with an opportunity to gain valuable experience, relevant...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The homemaker scheme makes qualification for the State pension (contributory) easier for those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties. The scheme was introduced in and took effect from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children under 12 years of age or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for...

Written Answers — Rent Supplement: Rent Supplement (16 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The client was requested to provide further information on the 17th of October 2011 in relation to his rent supplement application. The Department only received the necessary information from the person concerned on the 30th of April 2012. The rent supplement claim has now been awarded in full.

Written Answers — Equality Issues: Equality Issues (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Gender Recognition Advisory Group was established in May 2010, to advise on the legislation required to give legal recognition to the acquired gender of transgendered persons. The report of the Group was submitted to Government and published in July 2011. The report set out detailed recommendations for legislation to give recognition, including birth registration, to the acquired gender...

Written Answers — Rent Supplement: Rent Supplement (17 May 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 — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 77 together. The effectiveness of these programmes is under review and as part of that review the geographical distribution and progression of participants will examined and reported upon. This information will be made available to the Deputy when the analysis has been completed.

Written Answers — Disability Allowance: Disability Allowance (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office 12 March 2012. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred to an Appeals Officer who will make a...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The purpose of Tús is to focus on those people who are long-term unemployed and who may not have engaged in activation activity for some time. For this reason, eligibility for both participatory and supervisory positions on Tús is confined to those on the Live Register for at least 12 months and in receipt of jobseeker's allowance. These provisions are to ensure a targeted approach to...

Written Answers — Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: Creating jobs and tackling poverty are two of the key challenges that we face. It is essential that our tax and social protection systems play their part in addressing these issues and ensuring work is worthwhile. To this end, last year I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare with the aim of harnessing expert opinion and experience in order to address a number of specific...

Written Answers — Disability Allowance: Disability Allowance (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 23 November 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 and the...

Written Answers — Local Employment Services: Local Employment Services (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection currently has employment services offices in Ballyfermot, and Clondalkin. These offices can provide a service to job seekers in Lucan and Palmerstown. There are no plans to establish further offices at this time.

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (17 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that in this case the claim to state pension (contributory) was disallowed as the person concerned did not fulfil the statutory contribution conditions for the scheme. The person applied to the Scope section of the Department for a decision regarding the insurability of her employment on the family farm on the basis she was in a business...