Results 21,561-21,580 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: I do not think members of the Technical Group were there, but Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin Deputies supported an increase of €680 million in a Supplementary Estimate to increase the overall social welfare spend in 2012 to fund payments made to persons such as carers. I thanked Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin for supporting the Estimate. The Estimate for next year means that...
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: I am entitled to respond to Deputy Michael Lowry.
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: Yes.
- 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.
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: In respect of the kinds of cases about which we are talking, there was a cumulative reduction of €32 per week. Carers still feel very strongly about this, just as pensioners feel strongly about Fianna Fáil's cancellation of the Christmas bonus.
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: Another important point on carers was raised, including by Deputy Denis Naughten. The income disregard and means test for carer's allowance to which the Deputy referred-----
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: -----are actually the most generous in the social welfare system. A couple under 66 years with two children and earning a joint annual income of up to €35,400 can qualify for the maximum rate of carer's allowance. Such a couple earning up to €60,000 per year can still qualify for the minimum rate of carer's allowance. The Deputy did not mention that carers who work fewer than...
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: ------and payments as a result of fraud and abuse. They were recoverable, as the Deputy knows, at a rate of only €2 a week.
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: Up to €350 million in overpayments are due to my Department. Deputy Patrick Nulty should note this is relevant because, if we can recover the bulk of those payments, it will take the pressure-----
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: Some Members were unhappy last night with the idea that we would recover, at a rate of more than €2 a week, payments obtained in a fraudulent way.
- Social Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (13 Dec 2012)
Joan Burton: If the Deputy has a problem with this, he should note it is one of the reforms introduced in the Bill that is extremely important. It will actually provide us with more resources. I know Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett has a particular problem with recovering payments made as a consequence of fraud.
- 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...