Results 9,961-9,980 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: To take the Deputy's example, a lone parent who works 19 hours per week on the minimum wage would have an income of €165. With the changes I have made, after Fianna Fáil left lone parents to one side------

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: -----that lone parent would get €205 per week in family income supplement. If he or she had one child, he or she would get another €30.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: They would get €400 per week.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Support Services (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: I have read Sinn Féin's proposals on employment opportunities for people with disabilities. I assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to removing barriers which prevent people with disabilities from availing of employment opportunities. My Department provides a wide range of work related supports which will cost an estimated €37 million in 2015. While any person...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Support Services (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: In regard to the actions, the partial capacity benefit provides a much needed flexibility which did not exist previously. An individual who suffers from an ongoing condition or is recovering from a serious illness can return to work on the partial capacity benefit and qualify for the social welfare disability payment if his or her condition deteriorates. It is important for people that they...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the reform of the one-parent family payment is to maximise the opportunities for lone parents to enter into employment and thus to increase their income. I welcome the considerable debate generated by this reform, which commenced in 2012. My priority is to ensure that as a society we arrive at a situation in which lone parents have the same opportunities as everyone else to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: I very much did what I said I would do. As the Deputy is aware, because he discussed it with me, I introduced a seven-year transition from the age of seven to 14. The Deputy well knows that in this transition period we gave lone parents opportunities and encouragement to become involved in education and training - to become involved in the Department's activation services - but there is no...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: This is worth €30 a week per child to a lone parent who is returning to employment. We have provided more than €20 million for that in the budget. Through the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, but with funding from the Department of Social Protection, we introduced after-school supports for parents who need after-school support. In co-operation with the Department of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: We also have an interdepartmental group working on child care in the context of the forthcoming budget.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Review (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The free travel scheme provides free travel for those with eligibility on the main public and private transport services which includes road, rail and ferry services provided by companies such as Bus Átha Cliath, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann, Luas and services provided by over 90 private transport operators. There are currently approximately 828,000 customers with direct...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: I welcome the considerable debate generated by this reform, which is long overdue. As I said earlier, despite committing extensive funding to lone parent payments since the 1970s, lone parents remain the most at-risk-of-poverty, and their children are at a high risk of poverty. For too long, significant numbers of lone parents have been typecast, and confined to social welfare dependency....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: There are approximately 360,000 self-employed contributors including business owners, contractors, taxi drivers and farmers. These self-employed pay PRSI at the class S rate of 4%. This entitles them to access long-term benefits including State pension (contributory). A combined employer and employee PRSI rate of 14.75% is paid in respect of most employees, who can access the full range of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Poverty (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The official measure of poverty as used in the national social target for poverty reduction is consistent poverty - the combination of at-risk-of-poverty and basic deprivation. The rate of consistent poverty in 2013 was 8.2%, which was not a statistically significant change on 2012. The 2014 results are expected at the end of 2015. One of the component measures of consistent poverty is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Part-Time Job Incentive Scheme (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The part-time job incentive scheme is a scheme, which allows people who are long-term unemployed to take up part-time employment for less than 24 hours per week and receive a special weekly income supplement. The scheme was introduced on a pilot basis in 1986 and extended nationwide in 1988. The scheme was seen as a form of enticement to those who lacked an incentive to take up employment....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Sale of Aer Lingus (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: I am very aware of the issues and negative consequences arising from the funding difficulties in this scheme. Indeed, many defined benefit pension schemes have encountered funding difficulties in recent years and are working with the Pensions Authority to respond to those difficulties in a manner which will secure the sustainability of pension provision for scheme members. A number of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Ombudsman's Reports (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: I welcome the publication of the Office of the Ombudsman 2014 annual report. The Ombudsman provides a valuable and essential service in ensuring that all citizens have an independent and accessible channel to raise complaints about State services. The number of complaints received in respect of the Department of Social Protection (DSP), increased to 898 in 2014 from 491 in 2013. However...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: Expenditure on the One Parent Family Payment (OFP) scheme is estimated to be €607 million in 2015 with almost 70,000 recipients. However, despite considerable investment, the scheme has not succeeded in preventing lone parents from being significantly more at risk of consistent poverty than the population as a whole. In 2004, at the height of the economic boom, lone parents were more...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Payments (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as the retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2015 Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure of almost €89 million on the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The Pensions Act 1990 provides for the regulation of occupational pension schemes and Personal Retirement Savings Accounts. The Pensions Authority is an independent regulator responsible for supervising the compliance of pension schemes with the Act. Section 18 provides that the Authority has the power to carry out investigations into alleged breaches of the Pensions Act. Neither I nor my...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The issue of marriages of convenience or so-called 'sham marriages' is a complex one. The right to marry is a basic right and marriage, as an institution, has particular protection under the Constitution. The State’s duty is to protect the institution of marriage in legislation. EU citizens and their families have the right to move and reside freely within the territories of the...