Results 25,981-26,000 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Further to my response to Parliamentary Question Ref. No. 4948/12, I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there is no update to the information given previously. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 273, 274, 287, 292 and 304 together. Figures in regard to the number of appeals currently being processed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office broken down by scheme, and the average time to process appeals by summary decision and by oral hearing by scheme type for 2007 – 2011 are given in the tables below. Processing time for 2012 to date are not...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: There were 641 new applications for carer's allowance withdrawn without a decision being made in the six months to end February 2012. Withdrawals are made by an applicant for various reasons or an application can be withdrawn by a deciding officer when information requested in order to decide it is not supplied by applicant. Applications that were previously in payment but are subsequently...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Domiciliary care allowance (DCA) cases are routinely reviewed to ensure that the conditions for receipt of the payment continue to be met. Since September 2011, 213 of the DCA claims reviewed have been found to no longer have an entitlement to the allowance and payment in these cases has been stopped.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 11th January 2012. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant departmental papers and comments by the Social Welfare Services on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred in due course to an Appeals...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: As indicated, my Department will continue to provide funding for all Community Employment schemes while the financial review is underway. This review will be completed at the end of March 2012. Department officials are meeting with projects on an individual basis and making the necessary arrangements in relation to short term funding issues. This funding is being met from within the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 13th February 2012. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred in due course to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The IMF recently completed the fifth review of the Programme of Financial Support for Ireland and stated that the Government has met the 2011 fiscal targets and is advancing structural reforms to support growth and job creation. As the Deputy will be aware, expenditure by the State continues to exceed income by an unsustainable margin and consequently, further changes are needed, on both the...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Usually where an Irish citizen dies abroad, the death is registered by the civil authorities of the place where the death occurred, and a certified copy of the death registration is obtainable. This certificate, translated if necessary, is normally sufficient for all legal and administrative purposes here and for these reasons there is no necessity for the death to be registered in the...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in this case. There has been a very significant increase in the number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2007 when the intake was 14,070 to 2010 and 2011 when the intake rose to 32,432 and 31,241...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The person in question was refused carer's allowance on the grounds that the care recipient is not so disabled as to require full-time care and attention as prescribed in regulations. He was notified of this decision and the reason for it. He appealed this decision and forwarded additional medical evidence in support of his appeal. This new information has been forwarded to the medical...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: On 1 November 2011, there were 23,932 parents/guardians in receipt of domiciliary care allowance (DCA) in respect some 25,800 children. On 29 February 2012, the number of parents/guardians had increased to 24,101 with payment being made in respect of some 26,000 children.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: A review policy is an integral part of all social welfare schemes and is necessary to ensure that payments continue to be made only to those customers who meet the qualifying conditions. Domiciliary care allowance (DCA) cases are routinely reviewed to ensure that all the conditions for receipt of the payment continue to be met. Cases are reviewed based on either a scheduled review...

Written Answers — Public Service Staff: Public Service Staff (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Three civil servants retired from Ennis Local Office, under the Cost Neutral Early Retirement Scheme on 29 February 2012, whose pensions were protected from pay reductions by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act, 2009 and the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act, 2010. There were no retirements in County Clare from the State bodies under the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The average processing time for domiciliary care allowance applications is currently under eight weeks from receipt of application to decision.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Supplementary welfare allowance, which includes rent supplement, is administered by the community welfare service of the Department. The person concerned has been advised that she does not qualify for this allowance as she does not satisfy the Habitual Residence Condition (HRC). The person concerned does have a right of review and/or right of appeal. If she wishes to have the case reviewed...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The person concerned had a JobBridge eligibility form completed at his Social Welfare Local Office on the 20 January 2012, who deemed him eligible at that point in time. The host organisation was subsequently informed that the person concerned was approved to commence a placement under the JobBridge scheme. It is understood that the he commenced work with the organisation on 30 January...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the tabular statement. It should be noted that figures for 2012 represent one month's activity (January). Table A: Average weeks to award social welfare applications from 2007-2012 Average Weeks to Award (in weeks) Scheme 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012* Jobseeker's Benefit 2 2 3 2 2 2 Jobseeker's Allowance 3 5 6 6 5 5 One-Parent...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 293 to 295, inclusive, 297 and 298 together. Domiciliary care allowance (DCA) can be paid in respect of children under 16 years of age who have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: No changes have been made to the treatment of domiciliary care allowance for family income supplement (FIS) purposes. Payments under the domiciliary care allowance scheme have always been fully disregarded in determining entitlement for FIS and they continue to be fully disregarded.