Results 27,981-28,000 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social assistance schemes and child benefit with effect from 1 May 2004. The effect of the condition is that a person whose habitual residence is elsewhere would not normally be entitled to social welfare assistance or child benefit payments on arrival in Ireland. The reference from the...

Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Deputy's question relates to returning Irish emigrants. I refer to a number of developments that have taken place. The HRC distinguishes between people who return to the State for a temporary period and those who return with the intention of settling permanently or at least on a long-term basis. The Department's guidelines indicate the evidence that enables a deciding officer to...

Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Deputy should refer that question to the Department of Education and Skills.

Social Welfare Code (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: I know people affected by that issue as well, particularly the children of Irish people who have worked abroad for years, for example, in Africa and whose children are Irish. When they return home, their children want to go to college here but the Department of Education and Skills has specific rules because it cannot discriminate in favour of people who are Irish. Crosscare indicated the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: I am very conscious of the needs of people on social welfare and fully understand that a wide range of groups depend on the welfare budget for vital support. In the context of a very tough budgetary environment, I will do my utmost to protect the most vulnerable people in Irish society, including retired and older people in receipt of social welfare pensions and the free travel scheme. The...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 244, 245, 263 and 265 together. Last July, I published the report of the Gender Recognition Advisory Group which set out detailed recommendations for legislation to give recognition, including birth registration, to the acquired gender of transgender people. Since then my Department has been working on developing draft Heads of a Bill which I intend to bring...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The number of farmers in receipt of Farm Assist from the Department of Social Protection in October 2011 was 11,239. In addition to the personal rate that was paid in all those cases, increases were also paid in respect of 5,180 qualified adults and 10,055 children.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Schemes: Social Welfare Schemes (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 247 and 248 together. The purpose of the rural social scheme (RSS) is to provide income support for farmers and fisherpersons who have an entitlement to specified social welfare payments. Persons are engaged for 191⁄2 hours per week to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities. The scheme currently provides work opportunities for around...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Labour Court recommended in July 2008 that an agreed pension scheme should be introduced for community employment (CE) scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors, and that such a scheme should be adequately funded by FÁS. Notwithstanding the positions of the Department in rejecting that liability for these costs falls to be met from public funds, this matter has been the subject of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: There are two main initiatives currently being pursued by the Department to transfer long term rent supplement recipients into housing solutions supported by local authorities. The two initiatives are the Rental Accommodation Scheme and the new Housing Policy Initiative launched in June of this year. The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), which was introduced in 2004, gives local authorities...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (22 Nov 2011)

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 when the intake rose to 32,432. This has significantly...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Issues relating to maternity leave are a matter for my colleague, Alan Shatter T.D., Minister for Justice and Law Reform. The legislative provisions relating to maternity benefit and child benefit are contained in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 and Statutory Instrument No. 142/2007 (as amended). Entitlement to maternity benefit is subject to the following provisions: It being...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Invalidity pension is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the contribution conditions. This department received a claim for invalidity pension from the person concerned. The department requested medical evidence in support of this application from the person concerned and a medical diagnostic report was submitted....

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Payment of illness benefit, to the person concerned, was disallowed by a Deciding Officer following an examination by a Medical Assessor of the Department who expressed the opinion that he was capable of work. An appeal was registered on 3rd November 2011 and the Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that, in accordance with statutory requirements, the Department was asked for the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Carers allowance is a means-tested payment for people living in Ireland who are looking after someone who needs support because of age, physical or learning disability or illness, including mental illness. It is mainly aimed at carers on low incomes who live with and look after certain people who need full-time care and attention. By its nature the means test takes account of the income a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The community welfare service and the community welfare officers providing it, transferred formally to the Department of Social Protection from 1 October 2011. The service and staff are now part of the Department. The factual position is that there is no current claim for supplementary welfare allowance in respect of the person concerned. The person concerned should contact the...

Written Answers — Information Technology: Information Technology (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: For its internal IT operations, the Department utilises 344 servers with total memory of 4,271 gigabytes. The annual maintenance cost for these servers is EUR60,000. The maintenance contract is due for renewal in 2012 and in that context the Department will be seeking to reduce the costs of server maintenance. Three statutory bodies operate under the aegis of the Department; they are the...

Written Answers — Information Technology: Information Technology (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Document, Record and Information Management (DRIM) programme is a key part of my Department's ongoing change and modernisation programme. An objective of the DRIM programme is to eliminate, as far as possible, all paper from the administrative process and to store, retrieve and process records in an electronic format. By scanning documentation, certificates and customer application...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Illness Benefit is an income support payment for people of working age who are unable to work due to illness and who satisfy certain social insurance conditions. The scheme is intended to provide income replacement for insured persons during short spells of incapacity or illness, while other payments are available to people who are unable to work long-term because of a disability or a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (22 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received on 19th October 2011. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department's Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Upon receipt of this opinion a decision will issue to the customer. The Deputy should note that it currently take up to nine weeks to process an application.