Results 81-100 of 288 for 5 million speaker:Joan Burton

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joan Burton: ...by wealthy individuals to shelter income from Revenue. I pointed out in my 2006 reply to the budget, more than 1,000 of Ireland's wealthiest people paid ... these were people with incomes in excess of a million euros a year, paid an effective tax rate of between nought and 5%. I believed that the Government of the day was, as I said at the time, addicted to tax shelters. No doubt, this...

Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis: Nexus Phase (23 Jul 2015)

Joan Burton: ...built in, which were essentially designed to stimulate activity but became even more so a tax avoidance mechanism. I actually campaigned around tax justice, that allowing somebody with a €1 million income to pay tax of 0% to 5% was actually wrong and economically not proper. And as time went by in the period 2002-2007, partly because, for instance, of ads in the paper, you saw...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (16 Jul 2015)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 63, 65, 69 and 111 to 115, inclusive, together. Based on 2014 numbers of 1,232,535 recipients, payment of a Christmas Bonus equivalent to 50%, 75% and 100% of payment levels would cost €130.2 million, €195.3 million and €260.4 million respectively. Based on these same recipient numbers, the cost of a €5 increase in the annual...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Blind Person's Pension (15 Jul 2015)

Joan Burton: Blind pension is a social assistance payment which is paid to blind and visually impaired people. In 2015, over €14 million will be spent on these payments. The rate of the blind pension is the same as other social assistance payments, such as disability allowance, jobseeker’s allowance and one-parent family payment. Invalidity pension is a weekly payment to people who...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Poverty (8 Jul 2015)

Joan Burton: ...child benefit, qualified child increases for welfare recipients, family income supplement and the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, amounting to €3 billion in 2014. In Budget 2015, the Government committed a further €96 million for children, including an increase of €5 per month in child benefit and the introduction of the back to work family dividend. ...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobsPlus Scheme (30 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: ...or on young people seeking work. JobsPlus provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers in the form of a monthly grant paid over two years with two levels of grant payable-€7,500 or €10,000 provided the employment is maintained. The level of payment depends on the length of time the person is unemployed. Eligibility was broadened in 2015 to include young...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme (25 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: ...farm assist scheme was introduced in 1999 to replace 'Smallholders Unemployment Assistance' for low income farmers, without the requirement to be available for and genuinely seeking work. The 2015 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the farm assist scheme of €88.7 million and it is expected that an average of 9,400 individuals will be in receipt of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Overpayments (24 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: ...rate of recovery proposed. Any information received from the person is considered in deciding on the amount of the deduction. The total amount of overpayments in 2011 was approximately €92 million. Of this, almost €35 million was due to fraud, around €40 million due to customer error, approximately €6 million related to departmental error and €11...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pensions Payments (23 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: The cost of increasing the State Pension Contributory (SPC) and the State Pension Non Contributory (SPNC) by €5 per week is €102.2 million and €25.4 million respectively in a full year. The cost of increasing SPC and SPNC by €10 per week is €204.3 million and €50.8 million respectively in a full year. The cost of increasing all pension rates...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Reform (17 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: ...a universal payment that is paid in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years, or to the age of 18 who are in full-time education or who have a disability. It is paid to over 615,000 families in respect of almost 1.2 million children, at a cost of €1.9 billion. The Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare examined the structure of child and family income support...

Leaders' Questions (11 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: ...Minister is absolutely determined to ensure such cases should not actually occur. I want to sympathise with those affected by the recent cases, including their families. As the Deputy knows, €5 million is being spent on finalising a new emergency department in Tallaght. As his party's health spokesperson, he will also be aware that the very successful urgent assessment units are...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Poverty (9 Jun 2015)

Joan Burton: ...poverty for children in 2013 was 11.7 per cent, based on official statistics from the Central Statistics Office. This compares with an average of 8.7 per cent for the years preceding the crisis (2005-2008). Using the at-risk-of-poverty measure, 17.9 per cent of children were in poverty in 2013, which is less than the average figure of 20.8 per cent in the years preceding the crisis. Using...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (26 May 2015)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 184, 185, 187 and 188 together. The cost of increasing the State Pension Contributory (SPC) by €5 per week is just over €92 million in a full year. This cost includes the cost of proportionate increases for qualified adults and proportionate increases for those on reduced rates of SPC. The cost of increasing the State Pension Non Contributory...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Code (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department spends €39 million per year on the school meals programme. I have been a strong supporter of the programme as well as the Healthy Food for All initiative, which is about all of us, including schoolchildren and their parents, learning about healthy food and how to eat healthily. One of the issues with food is that sometimes a great deal of money might be spent on it,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service Staff (21 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: ...of DSP and the CIB executive. CIB delivers on its remit to provide services to the public by supporting a network of delivery partners which includes 42 local Citizens Information Services (CIS) and 51 local Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS). Each of these 93 independent companies in the network has a separate voluntary Board of Management. Each of these Boards has an average of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 to 61, inclusive, together. The Government recognises the importance of increasing participation in employment for persons with a disability, and to this end the Department provides a wide range of income and work related supports for people with disabilities, which play an important role in supporting increased participation in the labour force by people...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: ...universal payment made to families with children, which assists all parents with the cost associated with raising children. Child benefit is paid to around 616,000 families in respect of some 1.17 million children, with an estimated expenditure of around €1.9 billion in 2014. Child benefit as a “universal” payment is paid in respect of all qualified children up to the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Rates (25 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: ...the costs associated with monthly, as distinct from weekly, increases by the amounts stated. The full year cost of increasing Child Benefit by €5, €10, €15 and €20 per month is €71.6 million, €143.1 million, €214.7 million and €286.2 million, respectively.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Eligibility (11 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: ...with raising children. The Government is conscious that child benefit is an important source of income for all families. Child benefit is paid to around 616,000 families in respect of some 1.17 million children, with an estimated expenditure of around €1.9 billion in 2014. Child benefit as a “universal” payment is paid in respect of all qualified children up to the age...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: I have read with interest the Children’s Rights Alliance report card for 2015 and its recommendations for Government action to tackle child poverty. In my view, the role of social transfers, which I referred to earlier, is not given enough weight in the report. The at-risk-of-poverty rate for children has fallen for the first time in three years by nearly 1 percentage point, from...