Results 22,781-22,800 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I have never suggested, as the Deputy has just said, that it was spent on people's social lives. I am not aware of that. If the Deputy has some indications in that regard, he might tell us about it, but I have never suggested that. From speaking to parents in receipt of domiciliary care allowance I know-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: -----that money is used very carefully and very well for the children. A child of 16 moves on to a full social welfare payment exclusively in his or her own right. A child of 16 is a child. The suggestion is that the income received in respect of 16 or 17 year old children should be paid to their parents because they are living in a family context and that would be better in terms of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I should tell the House what Social Justice Ireland and other commentators have found in respect of poverty and the social and negative impact of budgets for families on the lower levels of income, whether in work or on social welfare. The biggest reductions with which the Deputy will be familiar, having sat at the Cabinet table when many of these reductions were decided, was the cut of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: -----and the significant cuts over which the Government of which he was a member presided in respect of child benefit. When his Government proposed that the early childhood allowance would be converted to a preschool payment I supported that proposal at the time because I considered that we need to concentrate on the delivery of services, and the development of preschool education is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Deputy should take some responsibility for his Government's history in respect of these matters. When I was in opposition-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: -----I supported a number of the initiatives taken.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: If the Deputy wants to say something, will he please stand up and say it and I will listen to what he has to say.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: That is not true.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: As a matter of history, what I recommended was that the very large tax allowances which rich people got to spend on property would be reduced and eliminated and that the money thereby saved would go to improve and expand services. If the Deputy wishes to examine the record he will find that is what I said. I supported initiatives such as the early childhood education initiative because I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Deputy appears to be threatened - but not when in government - by matters being examined and reviewed by groups who bring forward proposals and make suggestions. There is nothing threatening in that, but the Government then makes the decisions in the best interest of all the people. We have much to learn about how to spend the money better and direct it for better outcomes for children.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The total spend on child benefit in 2012 is estimated at €2.078 billion. It is €199 million on family income supplement. The payment of qualified child increases of nearly €30 per week, which go to families on social welfare, account for a further €698 million, and the back to school clothing and footwear allowance accounts for another €64 million. That brings...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Rates (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: They have not come from my Department and they have not come from me. Deputy O'Dea referred to Animal Farm. He knows, because he quotes so liberally from it, that in Animal Farm some creatures consider themselves more important than others. I consider the people who are most important are people like our pensioners who require and, I hope, will receive protection in the forthcoming budget....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Rates (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Deputy has long experience of Government and he knows that no decision is finalised until it is finalised at the Cabinet table just before the Minister for Finance comes into the Chamber and announces the budget.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Rates (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I am happy to reassure Deputy O'Dea that this long-standing practice has not changed simply because Fianna Fáil left Government at the request of the people. What I said last Friday is that the programme for Government sets out the protection of core social welfare rates.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Rates (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: That commitment is important, but no decision is made until the budget is finalised. I told the Deputy's predecessor, Deputy Barry Cowen, this last year and I am happy to say that when the budget emerged from the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, we were, in the very difficult circumstances bequeathed to us by the Deputy and his colleagues, in a position to protect...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 53, 55 and 56together. Creating jobs and tackling poverty are two of the key challenges that Ireland faces and it is essential our tax and social protection systems play their part in addressing these issues. To this end, and in line with commitments contained in the programme for Government, I established last year the advisory group on tax and social...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Rates (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection is the country's largest spending Department and many people look to the Department for income support. It is important to ensure the maximum protection for those people in the forthcoming budget while reforming social welfare to help people get back to work and become active and engaged. For that reason, I launched the first of the new, integrated social...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Insurance Rates (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I welcome Deputy O'Dea to his first questions session in his new role as the Fianna Fáil Party's spokesperson on social protection. The Revised Estimates for the Department of Social Protection provide for expenditure of just over €20.5 billion in 2012 on the wide range of schemes and services the Department provides. This expenditure represents 39% of gross current Government...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Sick Pay Scheme Expenditure (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 68. The Department will spend an estimated €847 million on illness benefit payments in 2012. The number of people claiming illness benefit and other disability payments has increased greatly in the past 10 years – a 44% increase from some 170,000 to some 247,000 between 2001 and 2010. Alongside those figures, the House will be aware...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Applications (16 Oct 2012)

Joan Burton: The Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure of €1,062 million on the one parent family payment scheme in 2012. One parent family payment is a means tested social assistance payment for men and women who are bringing up a child or children with the support of a partner. There are currently over 89,000 people receiving this payment. The weekly amount of the payment...