Results 10,801-10,820 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Money Advice and Budgeting Service (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: At the outset, I wish to assure the Deputy that the Government is totally committed to maintaining and strengthening MABS and its local delivery of services. While work is underway exploring how to optimise resources and governance arrangements to the greatest extent possible, I can also assure the Deputy that there will be no diminution of locally-provided services to the public, no closure...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The rent supplement scheme provides support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are approximately 70,200 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015. The timescale for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: Expenditure on the One Parent Family Payment (OFP) scheme is estimated to be €607million 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: Exceptional Needs Payments (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided €29 million for the ENP scheme in 2015. The scheme is demand led and is available to assist...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: Almost 70,000 lone parents are currently supported by the one-parent family payment (OFP) scheme at an estimated cost of approximately €607 million in 2015. Yet despite significant levels of investment lone parents are still significantly more at risk of consistent poverty compared to the population as a whole. The purpose of the phased OFP scheme age change reforms that were...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Activation Projects (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The Government recognises the importance of increasing participation in employment for persons with a disability and provides a wide range of income and employment-related supports through the Department of Social Protection. Employment-related supports include the Wage Subsidy Scheme, which is targeted at employers to encourage employment of people with disabilities, and the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Operation (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The Community Employment (CE) programme is a valuable resource in the provision of a range of services to communities, including childcare services. The Department introduced a new CE Childcare Strand at the beginning of 2013 under which there is a dedicated childcare educational programme at FETAC Level 5 for CE participants who work directly with children. This programme has led to the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Administration (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department welcomes the report and its contribution to the wider debate around labour market and activation policy in a changing economic environment. I am also happy that the report, while making a number of recommendations for change, acknowledges that JobBridge “has been of benefit to many”. As the report acknowledges, the scheme was introduced in 2011 when the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: My Department does not capture details of the employment contracts for recipients of social welfare payments, including one-parent family payment (OFP) recipients, and as such I am unable to provide the Deputy with the data requested for OFP recipients who are in low hour contracts. For customers working less than 19 hours per week who are affected by the OFP reforms, the best option...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: Under the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), responsibility for the provision of rental assistance to those with a long-term housing need will transfer from this Department to housing authorities. The Government has provided over €298 million for rent supplement in 2015 which reflects a transfer of funding in excess of €20 million to the Department of the Environment,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The State pension contributory is a very valuable benefit and is the bedrock of the Irish pension system. Therefore, it is important to ensure that those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working lives. To ensure that the individual can maximise their entitlement to a State pension, all contributions paid over their working life from when...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: While Government policies are restoring economic growth, this recovery is not yet reflected in the 2013 SILC data on household living standards. The Government is committed to delivering improved living standards to ensure that this recovery is felt by all families. These recent measures taken should be reflected in future poverty statistics. Social transfers have provided a hugely...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,600 schools and organisations which benefits over 205,000 children. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement by children especially those from the most disadvantaged background.Government has provided €39 million for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,600 schools and organisations which benefits over 205,000 children. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement by children especially those from the most disadvantaged background. Government has provided €39 million for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Services Programme (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The community services programme (CSP) is designed to address gaps in the delivery of key local services, to tackle disadvantage and to ensure that community facilities are utilised. Approximately 400 not-for-profit companies and co-operatives are being supported under the programme with some 2,800 workers being supported in these organisations. Funding of €46m has been provided for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: When a person in receipt of certain social welfare payments dies, their spouse, civil partner or cohabitant may get 6 weeks of this payment after their death. This will be paid at the same rate that the late spouse, civil partner or cohabitant was receiving. The person may get the 6-week payment if their spouse, civil partner or cohabitant was receiving one of the following payments and it...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Eligibility (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 800,000 people in Ireland in receipt of free travel at an annual cost of €77 million per annum. The free travel scheme is available to all people aged over 66 living permanently in the State. Applicants who are under age 66 must be in receipt of a qualifying payment in order to qualify for the scheme. The qualifying payments for those aged under 66...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: I understand that this question relates to cases of seasonal workers where entitlement to jobseeker's benefit ceases and the person then makes a claim for jobseeker's allowance. I wish to advise the Deputy that jobseekers claims are on average awarded within two weeks of the date of application, however, delays can arise where there is a difficulty in obtaining information in relation to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The Government's primary strategy to tackle youth unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. However, the Government recognises that as the recovery takes hold, there is a need for additional measures to ensure that as many as possible of the jobs created are taken up by jobseekers and young...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Illness Benefit Eligibility (6 May 2015)

Joan Burton: The social welfare system is primarily a contingency-based system, with entitlement based on a number of defined contingencies such as sickness, unemployment, old age or widowhood. There are two basic principles which underpin the Irish social insurance system. Firstly there is the contributory principle. Under this principle there is a direct link between the PRSI contributions that a...