Results 17,361-17,380 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: We do that now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I am aware of that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I will first respond to the Chairman's questions. She raised the question of rent supplement and the need for the tenant to seek advice on renegotiating the rent. We hope to make a major shift so that this service goes to local authorities, which after all have housing departments. The housing assistance payment, as the system is developed, should be able to address the issues that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: -----was originally an insurance based payment. The replacement levy, which the previous Government introduced, was described by the Economic and Social Research Institute in the original papers as a universal social contribution. However, when the then Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan, presented it in the budget the levy had morphed into a universal social charge, in other words, a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: No, the reason being that the scheme was designed for that purpose. It was extended to the self-employed purely for the contributory retirement pension and contributory survivor's pension and the 4% contribution covers only these pensions. The report on the social insurance fund shows that if an insurance company were managing such a scheme, a 4% contribution would probably only merit a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: The findings of the actuarial review are very important. It is an important social and national objective to sustain pensions into the long term. If, as members of all political parties and none agree, we are to achieve this objective, we must also ensure the fund is sustainable.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: We have discussed this issue previously and I wish to make clear that people would have to contribute if they wished to claim a wider range of benefits. To cover unemployment, the contribution of the self-employed would have to increase to 15.9%. In other words, self-employed people would have to pay the employee contribution of 4.25%, the employer contribution of 10.5% and a small...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: No, but just let me explain how a family in profile might build up a significant income. The Senator mentioned she was concerned about this. If, for example, one of those children had a caring requirement, one would be talking about the domiciliary care allowance if the child was under 16 and about a disability allowance if the child is over 16. One of the adults might be the carer or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: No, but the Senator set out a concern. I want to be clear. The reasons people get different social welfare payments is because they have an entitlement or because they have particular needs within their family which generate additional payments. In last year's budget, I looked at, and I will continue to look at, the issue of multiple payments. We had a situation, for example, where some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: As I said, some countries, such as Austria, have an account system for each family and household but this is not something that is under active consideration in the Department currently. The Department is trying to develop pathways and the personal services card. We are also attempting to get a lot of people back into work training, education and so on. This is our priority currently. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: In the case of five or six people renting together, it would be normal that only one of those renters would be in receipt of rent allowance. We have changed the system to require, from this year, that the person receiving rent allowance makes an equivalent contribution to what he or she would be paying in a local authority house. Therefore, we have addressed that issue. If the Senator is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: Deputy O'Dea asked another question I did not answer, regarding how many staff from other Departments have come to the Department of Social Protection. I understand that in recent years approximately 200 staff have moved to our Department, but I will try to get more accurate details for the Deputy. These have come mainly from the Department of Agriculture, Marine and Food, the National...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: We had 5,000 before we took in the extra people. We have approximately 6,700 now, but I need to get the whole-time equivalent figures for the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: Yes. The whole-time equivalent figure is 6,744. On the number of people targeting fraud, the main focus in the initiative is on working smarter, with better on-the-ground co-operation. It must be borne in mind also that large numbers of the public have been very helpful to us in identifying areas where they believe there may be a risk of fraud or abuse. I will get the Deputy the figures...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (26 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: We also have a multiple claiming project as well as Operation Transport, which involves checking with the transport companies to ensure that the free travel arrangements are being used properly. Operation Lifestyle and Assets is a pilot project directed towards individuals whose lifestyle and displays of wealth or assets are not commensurate with social welfare dependency. In my own...

Resignation of Minister of State: Statement (27 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I wish to announce for the information of the House that the Taoiseach yesterday accepted the resignation of Deputy Róisín Shortall as Minister of State at the Department of Health.

Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: First, in regard to my colleague, Deputy Shortall, I am very sorry and saddened to see her go. That view is obviously shared very strongly in this House by colleagues in both parties.

Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: Members of the House who are fair will recognise that she is a talented and compassionate woman, a person of very firm resolve, and very ambitious and driven in regard to the political values in which she believes. As colleagues, both of us were elected to the Dáil in 1992, in the aftermath of President Mary Robinson's historic election.

Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: She has been my colleague for a very long period.

Leaders' Questions (27 Sep 2012)

Joan Burton: I value her. We were discussing the medical centres and I will return to that. However, in speaking about the scourge of alcohol misuse and drug abuse in this country, Deputy Shortall spoke truth to power. That is the job of every politician, whether in opposition where one has much more leeway, or in government. She did that.