Results 17,801-17,820 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud Cost (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: A key priority for my Department is to ensure that fraudulent activity within the social welfare system is vigorously prevented and combated. Social welfare fraud undermines public confidence in the entire system as well as being unfair to other recipients of social welfare payments and taxpayers. For 2012, my Department has a target of reviewing 985,000 individual welfare claims and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Payments (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 159 and 175 together. Child Benefit is paid to around 600,000 families in respect of some 1.14 million children. It is a universal payment that assists parents with the cost of raising children and contributes towards alleviating child poverty. It is expected that some €2 billion will be spent on Child Benefit in 2012. In order to make a reliable...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Code Issues (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: In assessing means for social assistance purposes, account is taken of any cash income the person may have, together with the value of capital and property excluding the family home, land farmed by the person or commercial premises used in the course of the business of the claimant. The yearly value of property and capital is assessed on a notional basis. In the case of property, the market...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: An application for disability allowance was received from the person concerned on the 13th June, 2012. This application was referred to one of the Departments’ medical assessors who found that the person concerned was not medically eligible for disability allowance. A letter issued on 13th September, 2012 refusing the allowance. The person was advised that if they wished to have the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Applications (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department is awaiting a response to a request for further information in support of the application for rent allowance from the person concerned. A decision on the application will be made as soon as the required information is received.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question on the 11th July 2011. This application was referred to one of the Department’s medical assessors who found that the caree in question was not medically eligible for carer’s allowance. A letter issued on the 15th May 2012 refusing the allowance. The person concerned...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Numbers (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The National Internship Scheme, JobBridge, was launched on 1st July 2011. It provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals 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 knowledge...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Applications (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average waiting time for new family income supplement (FIS) claims at the end of September was 18 weeks and for renewal applications was 19 weeks. At the end of September, there were...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Recruitment (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The staffing needs for all offices within the Department are continuously reviewed, having regard to workloads, management priorities and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department. The HR Division of my Department will continue to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Care Services (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 169 and 171 together. The inter-departmental group (IDG) on school-age childcare consists of representatives from the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, (DCYA) – which is the lead Department in relation to child care policy and provision – and the Department of Education and Skills. The role of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 and 173 together. There is an important context to the proposed changes to State pension provision. Given the scale of the fiscal crisis and because spending on social protection accounts for nearly 40% of current Government expenditure, you will appreciate that savings have to be found in the social welfare system. As social structures in Ireland are...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Applications (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: An unemployed person may qualify for jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance. Jobseeker’s benefit is based on a person’s social insurance record and jobseeker’s allowance is based on weekly means. A fundamental qualifying condition for a jobseeker’s payment is that a person must be available for full-time work. Under EU Regulations, in certain...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Live Register Numbers (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: According to the most recent statistics available to my Department, which are based on addresses provided by people making a claim for an unemployment payment, there are currently approximately 392 persons who state that they reside in the East Wall area of Dublin and who are signing on the Live Register. Should additional information be required the organisation concerned should contact...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Consultancy Contracts (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: My Department engages a range of consultants (individuals or organisations) to provide intellectual or knowledge based services (expert analysis and advice). Total expenditure on the engagement of consultants by my Department for the years 2008 to the end of September 2012 is set out below and consultancies involved are detailed in the following tables. 2008 (Outturn) €1,919,600...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Legal Matters (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: It is not possible in the time available to provide a comprehensive answer to the various matters raised by the Deputy in respect of all of the periods in question. The information requested is currently being compiled within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Consultancy Contracts (17 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department will compile the information sought and will revert to the Deputy at the earliest possible opportunity.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Redundancy Payments (18 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: On the 7th December 2011 this matter was heard before the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) with 22 appellants seeking a redundancy payment. The EAT upheld that 20 of the 22 appellants were entitled to a statutory redundancy payment from their former employer, the organisation to which the Deputy refers. The appeals of the other two appellants were withdrawn at the hearing. Following the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (18 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: Mortgage Interest Supplement Payments (18 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: Mortgage interest supplement (MIS) provides short-term income support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence. There are currently approximately 16,000 mortgage interest supplement recipients for which the Government has provided €51 million for in 2012. From 18 June 2012, applicants for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (18 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 16th 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. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 11 October...