Results 8,621-8,640 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The one-parent family payment scheme reforms aim to maximise the opportunities for lone parents to enter into, or increase their level of, employment. The Department has contacted those lone parents who have transitioned from one-parent family payment, who are working part-time and who may have experienced a reduction. These customers were invited to attend a one-to-one meeting with a case...

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Of the 25,500 customers who left the lone-parent payment scheme on 2 July 2015, approximately 13,600, half of them, moved to jobseeker's transitional payment, 2,500, 10%, moved to the jobseeker's assistance scheme, and approximately 8,000 moved to family income supplement. When one adds the back to work family dividend, most people experienced an improvement. Approximately 5,000 households...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----and I said the worst thing that happened-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----in terms of people becoming poor in Ireland-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----was, first of all, that 300,000 people lost their jobs by the time Fianna Fáil left office.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Second, it cut things such as carers' allowance and the blind pension by €16.40 a week. That is its legacy-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: That is its legacy, its testament. In terms of how we-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----change things for people for the better, the first and the most important thing-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----is that we get as many people of working age as possible back to work.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The second thing is that we protect people who are vulnerable-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----particularly pensioners on fixed incomes, from any reductions in their core weekly payments. That is what we have done since we came into government.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: We made different choices to Fianna Fáil.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: We made different choices to Fianna Fáil but, as a consequence-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: -----we have got so many people back to work and we have protected people's pensions.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: I am not familiar with the case to which the Deputy just referred. If she would care to give me the details - the name of the employer, company number and so on - I will get her a report on the case. I cannot reply to her on the spot about that particular question because I was not made aware of it. The Deputy did not reference it in her question. Under the provisions of the Protection...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: It is a very difficult legal area. I will outline some of the difficulties. We have reformed the insolvency payments scheme. People are now paid their entitlements very rapidly. It has been transformed since the payments were taken over by the Department of Social Protection. However, the law is, in general, not in the remit of my Department but in that of the Department of Jobs,...

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: The contributory State pension is based on contributions paid and credited over the course of the pensioner’s working life. Receipt is not subject to means testing or residence in Ireland. EU regulations treat such social insurance-based payments across the EU as being exportable. This is the insurance-based payment.

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: In other words, payment is not subject to residence in the country in which the contributions were paid in the first instance. On the other hand, the non-contributory State pension is a means-tested payment based upon habitual residence in Ireland. It is a scheme to help older people living in Ireland to avoid poverty, particularly those who have no other provision for old age. There is...

Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: They should do so.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (30 Sep 2015)

Joan Burton: Taking the measure of income inequality used internationally by economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, the Gini coefficient, Ireland does extremely well. Ireland has a level of inequality that is below the average in the European Union and the 28 OECD countries, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom. In other words, we have less inequality in Ireland,...