Results 19,101-19,120 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: The Senator's amendment referred to committees of the Dáil. Every year the Comptroller and Auditor General publishes the amounts of money outstanding to the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners which he, along with the Committee of Public Accounts, would like to see recovered. This is a perfectly understandable part of public administrative policy. ...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I do not have the figures immediately to hand but the Senator may be aware that it has been a departmental policy for the past number of years that where the level of the abuse or fraud is material, that is above a figure of, say, ¤20,000 or so, prosecutions will be made and prosecutions are taking place. The media in general report on such cases. Once a decision is made to proceed with...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: To be helpful to Senator Bacik, the various provisions contained in the Bill will come into effect in a number of ways. Certain sections require or specify a date on which the provisions of that section come into operation. For example, section 10, which relates to the minimum contribution payable by self-employed contributors, specifies that this measure will take place from 1 January...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: Regarding Senator Cullinane's remarks on section 3, it is one of the charms of being in the Seanad that there are opportunities for erudition which are not often available in the Dáil. It is very welcome to be part of this very detailed debate on these points. The back to school clothing and footwear allowance provides a one-off payment to eligible families. It is not intended to meet the...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I am replying to a Senator.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: Senator Cullinane made statements which failed to reflect the full extent of the social welfare payments made in respect of children. It is important in a fair debate for the Senator to acknowledge the ingredients of the ¤20.2 billion which is paid by taxpayers to those on social welfare.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance is an important support. I am happy to have provided in the budget for additional funds for hot-meal services in schools which are very important. I admit to have taken funds from direct cash payments to provide for services to children in school. The underlying issue in the debate on social welfare is the correct balance between cash...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: Even by the standards of the Oireachtas, notification going back to 1997 is fairly lengthy. Sinn Féin may have had other things on its mind in 1997 besides debates in the Oireachtas-----

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: In fairness to all parties here there was an agreement then. A cornerstone of our social welfare system is a very important and significant contributory old age pension which can be funded only if the people who wish to benefit from it contribute enough to meet the promises that the Government has made. There are an increasing number of people who survive not only to claim their pensions...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: One cannot have a contributory pension system unless the people who expect to be beneficiaries of the system contribute sufficiently to it. Way back in 1997 all of the parties then in the Dáil agreed to increase the number of pension contributions required on a staggered basis over a long period. The Oireachtas agreed to one of the changes in the early 2000s. The second set of changes...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: That is not the way to provide for the economic-----

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I do not believe that I am holding any script in my hand.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I am not holding any script because I believe strongly in the social insurance principle. I have said to the Senator, and it may be news to Sinn Féin, that all the parties in this House down the years have supported the creation of a strong pension framework for older people which comprises two parts from the point of view of the social welfare system, a social insurance-based contributory...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I thank all Senators from both sides of the House who contributed because I know how genuinely people feel about this issue. Great credit is due to Irish society for one thing we have done. I listened to Senator Mulcahy talking about his daughter and his family situation. It is true with this House as it is for most of Irish society that at some stage all of us have cared for people or we...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: With due respect to the various charming people of the troika, this commitment is not negotiable.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I lived in Tanzania, a very poor east African country. Like many other countries in Africa in the 1980s, it had to accept the ministrations of the IMF and the position was no different then. If countries borrowed money from the IMF, they had to repay it. We do not have an option other than getting the country back on its feet because that is the best way to protect social policies across a...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: The Senator can check his own documents because they are what we were left with as our legacy of the agreement. We have negotiated it downwards.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: We reduced the figure of ¤540 million to ¤390 million.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: The troika came here to meet the political parties exactly two years ago. I am not going back very far.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Dec 2012)

Joan Burton: I am trying to answer.