Results 29,841-29,860 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: I have made enquiries of the Registrar General and he has informed me that the general review of the provisions of the Civil Registration Act 2004 is expected to be completed in the coming months. There are a range of complex issues to be considered in relation to the scope and implementation of any proposed changes to the provisions of the Act. Some of these issues may have...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: Workers whose weekly earnings are above €38 and below €356, and for whom employers pay PRSI contributions at the rate of 8.5%, fall into PRSI Sub-classes AO and AX. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to halve the lower 8.5% rate of PRSI up to end 2013. This commitment is being implemented with effect from 2 July, 2011. A lower rate of employers' PRSI for workers earnings...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: 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 2,600 men and women and 130 supervisory staff. The scheme...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The average number of weeks taken to award a disability allowance claim for the period January to April 2011 was 17 weeks. The department does not hold statistics on a county by county basis for processing times for disability allowance applications. To be eligible for disability allowance, a claimant must (inter alia) satisfy a medical assessment, a means test and be habitually resident in...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The person concerned had an outstanding self-employment PRSI liability, which he fully discharged in May 2011. Following confirmation that his liability had been discharged, his pension entitlement was reviewed, and he was awarded an increase in his weekly rate, with effect from 28 January 2009. Arrears of State pension (contributory) due in respect of this increase, have been authorised,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The application for carer's allowance from the person concerned was received on the 17 January 2011. He was awarded carer's allowance at the weekly personal rate of €204.00 from the 20 January 2011. He was notified of this decision. The arrears, less the amount paid in respect of another social welfare payment pending the decision to award carer's allowance, will issue to the person...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: There are ten internal audit staff employed by my Department, headed by a qualified accountant. The staff includes one information systems internal auditor. It also uses the services of an outsourced IT audit specialist. The internal audit unit carries out a continuous programme of audits on financial and internal control issues across the many business units and payment schemes of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (15 Jun 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 — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The pension rights of scheme members are protected through trust law and by provisions in the Pensions Act 1990 as amended. As supplementary pension schemes are usually established under irrevocable trust, the assets of the scheme are legally separate from the assets of the employer and are not available to any other creditors where the employer becomes insolvent. Under trust law, trustees...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: Responsibility for policy and funding of the employment and community services of FÁS transferred to the Department of Social Protection with effect from 1 January 2011. It is envisaged that the integration of FÁS staff into the Department will commence later this year. Insofar as the training activities of FÁS are concerned, options regarding the provision of further education and...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received on 17 February 2011. This application was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for domiciliary care allowance. A letter issued to the person concerned on 15 April 2011 advising her of the decision to refuse the allowance. In the case of an application which is...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: In order to qualify for domiciliary care allowance a child must 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, effectively full-time so that the child can deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary allowance scheme an exceptional needs payment (ENP) may be made by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to help meet an essential, once-off cost which the applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources. There is no automatic entitlement to this payment. Each application is determined by the HSE based on the particular circumstances of the case. Eligible people...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 13 April 2011. 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 to an Appeals Officer for...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the Tús scheme is to focus on those people who are long-term unemployed. For this reason, eligibility is at present confined to those on the Live Register for 12 months and in receipt of jobseeker's allowance. These provisions are to ensure a targeted approach to those currently affected by long-term unemployment. People already in employment are not eligible for these...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The Government supports and encourages people to make provision for an adequate income in retirement. It does this through the provision of a State pension (contributory) which is currently 33% approx. of the gross average industrial earnings and through generous tax relief on supplementary pension savings. It is important that an individual's pension savings is invested wisely and that...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The Health Service Executive (HSE) has advised that the persons concerned were initially awarded mortgage interest supplement in May 2009. The HSE further advised that a review form issued to the persons concerned in September 2009 but when the form was not returned to the HSE their claim to mortgage interest supplement was suspended and subsequently closed. The HSE further advised that a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: The Health Service Executive (HSE) has advised that the persons concerned were refused mortgage interest supplement as they have sufficient income to meet their mortgage interest costs.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received on 16 March 2011. This application was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for domiciliary care allowance. A letter issued to the person concerned on 30 May 2011 advising her of the decision to refuse domiciliary care allowance. Where a person is not satisfied...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (15 Jun 2011)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 295 and 332 together. Since May 2008, some 825 posts have been assigned to the Department of Social Protection to fill critical staff vacancies and additional posts approved to deal with the significant increase in claims for the schemes operated by the Department. The majority of these posts have been sourced through the lateral transfer and redeployment of...