Results 7,561-7,580 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: Some 700 extra nurses have been employed this year and 400 nurses are currently in the recruitment process for additional staff. We are in favour of reducing USC for low-paid workers.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: Today marks the first day in office of the new Governor of the Central Bank, who is properly independent in the exercise of his functions to protect the system and customers.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: If the examination shows - and I hope it will - that more protection is required, then I absolutely believe that.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: I thank Deputy McGrath for his comments. The Department of Social Protection, my Department, actually has two services, the Citizens' Information Board and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service. We deal with some of these difficulties in terms of helping families who have problems. In fact, we have recently introduced a court mentoring service for people who have other mortgage...

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: What I am saying to Deputy McGrath in respect of this matter is that we set up a structure, in light of some of the lessons learned about the banking crash, such that we have a strongly independent Central Bank that is not at the whim of any politician.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: That structure has been established on a Europe-wide basis to avoid banking crashes. At the moment, the Central Bank is actually undertaking an examination of this particular area. Those involved have not given an actual date for when they are going to report, but, as I understand it, they have been in contact with the different institutions and people who have been affected by the kinds of...

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: They are now doing the evaluation.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: I hope we will get the report by the middle of December, as has been suggested.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: We will certainly be prepared to act on the recommendations.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: The State industrial relations machinery is at the disposal of the parties to the dispute. It is at the disposal of the nurses and their representatives as well as the management of the HSE. I sincerely hope that if those mechanisms are used there will not be industrial action. It is to be hoped such a situation could be avoided with the use of industrial relations machinery. On the...

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: First, I express my full sympathy for individuals and families who have had this negative and at times extremely stressful experience of dealing with banks, including negotiations, the time it takes, and the various levels people have had to go through. The Deputy is probably aware that the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS, is one of the advisory services available to the...

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: However, the actual experience of this problem does relate to the collapse of the banks.

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: Yes, it does. Let me finish. I did not interrupt the Deputy at all. The consequences of the crash have been very simple. The actual powers of the Central Bank and of the regulatory authority as well as the independence of the Central Bank as an institution have been strengthened significantly to ensure for everybody's sake that we will never see a banking crash again. The Deputy asked...

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: These include the banks the Deputy has mentioned. If we are having a serious discussion about this, we need to look at the different elements of the problem. Is the Deputy suggesting that somehow or other we should move away from the independence of the Central Bank, but not from dialogue with the Central Bank or requiring it to act both in terms of the security of the banking system and...

Leaders' Questions (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: That is the balance we have to achieve concerning this matter. In the context of where we have come from, it is absolutely a legacy issue. It is also a legacy issue for all of the European banking system where we have a properly independent regulatory structure. If Deputy McGrath is suggesting that the Minister for Finance should personally regulate the Central Bank, I do not agree with him...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Data (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service, has recently commenced the publication of experimental statistics on the number of people moving from non-employment to employment. They are based on comparisons of individual people’s situation in successive quarters in the Labour Force Survey (in Ireland, the Quarterly National Household Survey or QNHS). Non-employment here includes...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Illness Benefit Payments (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 33 together. Gateway is an initiative with local authorities to provide short-term quality and suitable work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than 24 months. Local authorities are the employers for all participants on the scheme. As employees, participants are subject to standard income tax, payroll deductions and they pay a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Illness Benefit Applications (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: The person in question appealed to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) a decision by a deciding officer to disallow his application for disability allowance (DA). Following due consideration, the appeal of the person in question was disallowed by an appeals officer (AO) on 16 November 2015. He was notified of this decision in writing by the SWAO on the same date. An...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Respite Care Grant Applications (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: The Respite Care Grant is an annual payment for carers who look after certain people in need of full-time care and attention. The care provided must be for a continuous period of at least 6 months in the year in question and include the due date of the Grant – the first Thursday in June. During this care period all of the scheme conditions, which are legal requirements, must be met....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Eligibility (26 Nov 2015)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the continuing eligibility for disability allowance (DA) of the person concerned is currently under review. A local Social Welfare Inspector (SWI) has been requested to investigate all the circumstances of the case and to provide the deciding officer with a report on the person’s overall circumstances and continued eligibility for DA. Following receipt of that report a...