Results 29,361-29,380 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: The Deputy will understand that I will not speak for the previous Minister or his opinions.

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: For example, he had conversations with the late Minister for Finance regarding the family income supplement. However, nothing occurred as a consequence. I do not know what the previous Minister did-----

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: -----but I was astonished upon arriving in the Department that, despite being a large bulk purchaser of utilities, we did not get discounts. I must seek legal advice to determine how to get better value through discounts for those who rely on the package of household benefits.

Employment Support Services (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: The objective of JobBridge, the national internship scheme, is to assist individuals to bridge the gap between unemployment and the world of work. It will provide those seeking employment with an opportunity to undertake a six or nine-month internship in a host organisation. Participants will benefit from learning new skills to complement their existing skills. Participation on the scheme...

Employment Support Services (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: Yes.

Employment Support Services (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: I thank Deputy Wallace and other Deputies who are following the website and closely monitoring the positions on offer. Their efforts are important and I have a number of volunteers, departmental staff and people in the labour services side of FÁS doing likewise. Some 1,100 opportunities are available on the JobBridge website. Given their range, the Deputy will agree that many of them are...

Employment Support Services (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: The Department monitors the website, as do the people in FÁS. This is an important job. Internationally, internships have a good history of filling in the gap for someone who has qualified at a certain level but in a recession cannot get a job because he does not have experience and cannot get experience because he cannot enter a job. We want to stop that catch-22 situation. There is...

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 and 25 together. There will be an ongoing necessity to curtail overall expenditure in 2012 and in later years. The comprehensive review of expenditure currently under way in all Departments and agencies will form the basis for making the necessary decisions to achieve this. The outcome of the review will be considered by the Government in September....

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: A couple with an income of just under €60,000 can still qualify for a minimum payment in respect of carer's allowance while still getting the associated free travel and household benefits package. In anyone's language, that is a generous income disregard. I have already said the comprehensive review of expenditure is under way and budgetary decisions will be made in the context of the...

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: I agree with the Deputy that carers do a very important job. Their contribution in looking after members of their own families with particular needs, who are ill or may have a disability is truly heroic in many cases. However, as I have said, I am not in a position at this time to make any commitments regarding the outcome of the comprehensive review of expenditure or budget 2012. During...

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: Receipt of carer's allowance is based on medical evidence. One of the difficulties with the system is that very often the initial application does not contain sufficient medical evidence of the quality required by deciding officers in the Department. There is scope to improve on this because when decisions on applications for carer's allowance are appealed, the successful appeal rate is...

Social Welfare Benefits (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: As regards Deputy Stanton's point on carers providing care for adults or children with a severe disability, I am not aware if such a study has been conducted. The previous Government made commitments in respect of a carers' strategy. From my own experience, the provision of services is as important as providing income. For instance, the provision of services for a child with a high level...

Community Welfare Service (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: The transfer of the community welfare service to the Department of Social Protection is part of the process of streamlining the health service. By taking income support functions from the HSE and merging them with my Department, the HSE has more capacity to concentrate on its core functions of health service delivery. As a first step in the process, the staff of the community welfare...

Community Welfare Service (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: I appreciate the Deputy's concern. It is anticipated that there will be no change to current base locations immediately following transfer. However, as the establishment of the national employment and entitlements service progresses, there will inevitably be changes in office locations to facilitate the integration and the provision of the so-called one-stop-shop area to customers. This...

Community Welfare Service (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: I hope it will, once the initial changeover period has been achieved. Additional guidelines on habitual residency were issued in recent weeks for people who are Irish passport holders or who are originally Irish and who have come back to Ireland. I am not sure if that is the kind of person the Deputy has in mind.

Community Welfare Service (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: Sometimes people come home perhaps to look after an elderly relative, but they still might have a house in the UK or wherever they have come from. New guidelines have come out in recent weeks, so I hope they may be of benefit to that particular individual. The Deputy might correspond with me on the issue and I will ask the Department officials to have a look at it.

Community Welfare Service (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: The IMF officials visit the country one week after the end of every quarter, so there are ongoing discussions between the IMF and my Department. I have also met the troika team and spoken to them about the importance of social welfare to domestic spending in the Irish economy. I will speak to officials in the Department about Deputy Cowen's request. On MABS and citizens information centres,...

Social Welfare Appeals (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 22, 26 and 37 together. Figures on the breakdown of decisions in respect of the 28,166 appeals disposed of by the social welfare appeals office during 2010 are enclosed in the following table. I am informed by the social welfare appeals office that the number of appeals waiting to be processed on 17 July was 19,525. There are limited statistics available on...

Social Welfare Appeals (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: I will arrange for the details to be forwarded to the Deputy. There has been an enormous increase in the number of appeals. The number of them has multiplied several times in each of the recent years. There was a 46% increase in the number of appeals in 2009 compared with 2008, and that was 27% greater than the number in 2007. There was a further increase of 26% in the number of appeals...

Social Welfare Appeals (20 Jul 2011)

Joan Burton: That is a very sensible suggestion. As the community welfare officers move into the Department, this is an area where they in particular probably have enhanced experience and sensitivity. Perhaps we can have better advisory services and a better quality of information available in citizens information centres. Various organisations supply excellent information which enables people to make...