Results 20,521-20,540 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income 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...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Application Numbers (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 87,000 recipients in receipt of rent supplement and over 14,000 in receipt of mortgage interest supplement for which the Government has provided over €445 million in 2013. I set out below a tabular statement showing the number of recipients of rent supplement and mortgage interest supplement from 2009 to date. Rent Supplement and Mortgage Interest...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Overpayments (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: Ensuring that the right person is paid the right amount of money at the right time is an integral part of the day-to-day work of the Department. It is the Department’s policy that every effort is made to prevent overpayments but, where they occur, they should be regarded as a debt to the Exchequer and every effort must be made to recover the amounts through all available means. Those...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Places (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department is continuing its commitment to getting people back to work as set out in the Programme for Government and the Pathways to Work documents. Following my announcement at budget time, the number of Community Employment and Tús programmes are being expanded in 2013 by 2,000 and 2,500 places respectively on a national basis and it is likely schemes in Kildare will apply for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Measures (5 Mar 2013)

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. There were 68,000 young unemployed, on average, in 2012, made up of 18,500 aged 15-19 and 49,500 aged 20-24. Overall, the under-25 age group...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Application Numbers (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: There are approximately 6,800 applications for disability allowance awaiting decision of which some 5,000 are new applications. The average number of weeks to award a disability allowance application is currently approximately 17 weeks. A recent analysis of the applications pending decision indicated that approximately 60% of them had been waiting for a decision for 12 weeks or fewer. Great...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Application Numbers (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: As at the end of February 2013 there are 2,593 Invalidity Pension (IP) claims registered, actioned and awaiting information to finalise a decision. This includes approximately 800 cases which are being investigated under EU regulations or bi-lateral agreements. These cases are more complex and take longer to decide. A targeted plan was put in place to clear the backlog, which is steadily...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Application Numbers (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: There are currently 706 new domiciliary care allowance (DCA) applications awaiting decision. This equates to approximately 7 weeks intake of applications. New applications for DCA are being decided within the Department’s 8 week processing target for this scheme.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: The expenditure of the Department over the period 2007 to 2012, inclusive, is contained in the following table: 2007 Outturn 2008 Outturn 2009 Outturn 2010 Outturn 2011 Outturn 2012 Provisional Outturn €000 €000 €000 €000 €000 €000 TOTAL DSP EXPENDITURE ON SCHEMES, SERVICES & ADMINISTRATION 15,450,987 17,764,724 20,480,777...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Application Numbers (5 Mar 2013)

Joan Burton: A deciding officer may review a decision in the light of fresh facts or evidence. Where an adverse decision is made by a deciding officer, the option of such a review is offered to the customer in addition to the statutory right of appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO). Where a case is pending appeal and there is a change of circumstances or additional evidence available, a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Delays (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: There has been significant increase in the number of appeals finalised from 17,787 in 2009 to 32,558 in 2012. Processing times have been reduced by 10.3 weeks overall in 2012 with respect to 2011, with time for an oral hearing time down by 13 weeks and the time for summary decision up by 2.7 weeks. Of course, further improvement is needed to reduce unacceptable delays in the time taken to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Delays (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question on the 17th December 2012. The application is with a deciding officer for a decision. Once processed, the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Personal Public Service Numbers (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: Where a person living outside of the State requires a Personal Public Services Number, an application may be made to have one allocated under the exceptional registration process by submitting the required documentation to the Client Identity Services (CIS) Division of my Department. From the information provided by the Deputy, CIS have been unable to trace an application in the case of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Creation Issues (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: Tús is a community work placement initiative which is being delivered through the network of local development companies and by Údarás na Gaeltachta in Gaeltacht areas – collectively referred to as the Implementing Bodies. Expressions of interest and applications from community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations wishing to offer work placement opportunities are...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 142 together. With effect from 17th September 2012 rates of payment on the rural social scheme (RSS) were amended to bring them in line with those on the community employment programme and Tús, the community work placement initiative. All new entrants to the RSS from this date onwards are paid the equivalent of their existing rate of social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Initiatives (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: The Job Initiative (JI) scheme was launched in 1996. The Job Initiative programme initially provided three years full-time employment for people who – on entry to the scheme – were 35 years of age or over, unemployed for 5 years or more, and in receipt of social welfare payments over that period. In November 2004 the then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: The person concerned recently moved address, which necessitated a review of her entitlement to Rent Supplement. The claim has been reviewed and Rent Supplement has been awarded at the monthly rate of €811.30. The next payment date will be 4 March 2013. This payment covers the period 1 February 2013 to 28 February 2013. Some documentation in relation to this claim remains...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Payments (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: The person in question was awarded carer’s allowance for two people from the 23rd of December 2008. The person concerned was in receipt of the payment up to the 25th of April 2012. A social welfare investigative officer reviewing this case was of the opinion that the person in question was not providing full-time care and attention. In response to the social welfare investigative...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: Part-time fire-fighters are entitled to a jobseeker’s payment in respect of days that they are engaged in fire-fighting or training. They are, however, required to satisfy the statutory conditions for the receipt of a jobseeker’s payment of being available for and genuinely seeking work. In this respect, Deciding Officers do not treat them differently to any other...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Further Education and Training Programmes Eligibility (28 Feb 2013)

Joan Burton: The Momentum initiative provides free education and training projects for up to 6,500 long-term unemployed jobseekers. The initiative is administered by FÁS and funded by the Department of Education & Skills through the National Training Fund (NTF) and co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). In line with the commitments given in Pathways to Work, eligibility for the...