Results 17,741-17,760 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Payments (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: Child benefit is a universal payment that assists parents with the cost of raising children and it contributes towards alleviating child poverty. The estimated expenditure on child benefit for 2012 is around €2 billion in respect of some 1.15 million children. The Government is conscious that child benefit, as a universal payment, can be an important source of income for all...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Applications (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The person concerned has made an application for rent supplement and has been requested to provide further information in support of her claim. A decision will be made on her application when the information has been provided.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy will be aware, ensuring the sustainability of pensions into the future is vital given the changing demographics, the increased numbers of those over 65 and increased longevity and reduced dependency ratio. The State pension is a very valuable benefit. Therefore, it is important to ensure that those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Fuel Allowance Applications (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: In order to be eligible for a fuel allowance, a person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment, satisfy a household means test, and live alone or only with specific people. One of the criteria for an applicant living with someone else is that this person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment that would entitle them to fuel allowance in their own right. In the case concerned, the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. Currently the average time taken to award a carer’s allowance application is 28 weeks. I acknowledge that the time taken to process carer’s allowance claims at present is not satisfactory but I am satisfied that the Department is taking appropriate action to resolve the situation....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal, by the person concerned, was registered in that office on 13th July 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 case will be referred to an Appeals Officer who will...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (16 Oct 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 — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (16 Oct 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 — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question. The person concerned was refused carers allowance on the grounds that the care recipient is not so disabled as to require full time care and attention as prescribed in regulations. She was notified of this decision, the reasons for it and of her right of review or appeal on the 4th...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 308 and 309 together. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Public Sector Staff Career Breaks (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 310, 375 and 376 together. There are currently 91 staff of my Department availing of career breaks, including career breaks which were granted under the special incentivised career break scheme 2009. A breakdown by grade is as follows: Grade Number Assistant Principal 1 Higher Executive Officer 10 Executive Officer 12 Staff Officer 5 Clerical...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question on the 21st December 2011. The application is with a deciding officer for a decision. It will be processed as quickly as possible and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Appeals (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The person concerned appealed the decision to disallow her one parent family payment claim. Her claim was subsequently reviewed by a Social Welfare Inspector, and the decision to disallow her claim remained unchanged. The appeal will now progress through the Social Welfare Appeals Office.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Care Services (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The total expenditure on the key illness and disability payments administered by the Department – namely illness benefit, invalidity pension and disability allowance amounted to some €10.6 billion in the period from 2008 to 2011. Of that amount, some €3.6 billion relates to illness benefit and the estimated cost of the scheme in 2012 is €847 million. Against...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Measures (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: Young people, typically, suffer disproportionately from job losses in recessions as they tend to have entered employment more recently, are more likely to hold temporary contracts and to be employed in cyclically sensitive industries than older workers. The Quarterly National Household survey indicated that there were 66,000 young unemployed aged 15–24 in Q2 2012 – representing...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Administration (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The JobBridge Scheme has made significant progress to-date since it came into operation on the 1st July 2011. 11,010 internships have commenced to date with 5,082 participants currently on an internship as at 11th October 2012 and 2,253 internship opportunities presently advertised on . Our records indicate that a significant proportion of individuals who have completed their JobBridge...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: It is an objective of my Department, and the agencies under its aegis, to provide a quality customer service in both Irish and English in response to customer demand. It is not possible to completely isolate all of the costs for the provision of services in the Irish language within the total cost of service provision in every instance. The cost of providing some elements of service through...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all the evidence, disallowed the appeal of the person concerned by way of summary decision. Under Social Welfare legislation, the decision of the Appeals Officer is final and conclusive and may only be reviewed by the Appeals Officer in the light of new evidence or new facts. Following the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: An application for disability allowance was received from the person concerned on 16th March 2012. This application was referred to one of the Department’s medical assessors who found that the person concerned was not medically eligible for disability allowance. Further medical evidence has been received in support of the application and is under consideration by our medical...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question on the 10th April 2012. The application is with a deciding officer for a decision. It will be processed as quickly as possible and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.