Results 18,941-18,960 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: That is why I have made provision in the budget for 10,000 extra activation places, consisting of 3,000 on JobBridge, 2,500 on Tús, 3,000 in the local authorities and 2,000 in CE schemes. When we discussed CE schemes this time last year the Deputies opposite all claimed they would close down and the supervisors would lose their jobs. We are in fact increasing the number of places. I...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 6:In page 3, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following:“ “Act of 2012” means the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012;”.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: These amendments are consequential on the insertion of a new section 14 providing for the deferral of the dates on which the age reductions for one-parent family payments will take effect. Under the provisions of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012-----

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I know.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I am doing what the Cathaoirleach has asked me to do. I hope Deputies appreciate that. Under the provisions of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012, the qualifying age of the youngest child for the purpose of entitlement to one-parent family payments is due to decrease from 12 to ten years with effect from the beginning of January 2013 and from ten to seven years with effect from...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I have engaged in intensive work with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs over the past year so that the State could provide additional child care places. This is why I was happy to announce an additional 6,000 after-school places. Ireland is starting from a low base in regard to child care. All of us recognise that our child benefits and lone parent payments are among the highest...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 11: In page 5, subsection (5), lines 1 and 2, to delete “Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012” and substitute “Act of 2012”.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: As in the case of section 3, the changes I propose in this section also follow on from the pension reform measures I announced in the budget in December 2011, which were implemented from September of this year. Two changes in the State pension contributory scheme are contained in this section, one of which aligns the contribution conditions applying to the pension across all categories of...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: A number of Deputies, including Deputies Denis Naughten and Brendan Ryan, have raised the issue of the quality of the available services. I know that this aspect is of most concern to carers. They have told me that when caring for an elderly person or a cancer sufferer, they do not necessarily need respite for themselves - although it is welcome - but for the person for whom they care.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I did not interrupt the Deputy.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I am talking about a vision for how we can provide for solidarity in society. If the Deputy has ever cared for someone who is very ill, elderly or in need of care, he will know, as Deputy Denis Naughten rightly described it, it is critical in his or her daily round of work for a carer to know with certainty that a respite place will be available for a definite period of time. This is...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: When Deputy Róisín Shortall was in the Department of Health, she was extremely aware of this point which was discussed by the Select sub-Committee on Social Protection. Every Deputy who has spoken regards it as a very serious issue. Some Deputies or their close family members have personal experience of this work and have described what I know to be the reality. The committee...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: However, there are requests for more money in every part of the social welfare budget. While the balance and proportions of expenditure and taxes can be varied, the troika has set expenditure ceilings. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly has professional experience, having worked with the World Bank and the IMF, and will know that in countries in which expenditure ceilings are part of the package,...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I listened to the Deputy and every other Member who spoke and took notes on the individual cases and issues raised.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: That is because I take very seriously the points made by the Deputies, including Deputy Róisín Shortall.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I lost an hour and a half yesterday morning that could have been used to discuss the Bill because of the carry-on that had nothing to do with social welfare. This morning I lost another hour and a half. Deputies have raised very important points. It is part of parliamentary practice that there not be a one-sided discussion and that if a Deputy raises a point, the Minister is obliged to...

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I did not interrupt the Deputy. With regard to Deputy Willie O'Dea's comments, I realise and as he knows there are higher levels of disability in parts of his constituency, Limerick city, than in any other area of the country. The option Fianna Fáil chose on two occasions was to cut weekly payments for the carer and the adult who is cared for, both by €8.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: In a carer's household-----

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: The reduction in respect of an adult caring for another adult was over €32.50 per week.

Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: We have a very tight, difficult budgetary position which requires us to effect change in regard to carers that preserves the weekly payment. Fianna Fáil disagreed because, on several occasions, it cut core weekly payments across the board.