Results 11,101-11,120 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Order of Business (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: I do not have a date for the bringing forward of the companies (auditing) Bill. I will seek advice from the Minister on the implementation date for the Companies Act 2014.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: First, as I said, I am very happy to say the live register now stands at 10%, given that at the height of the crisis it reached 15.1%. The arrangements for helping people to find work have changed significantly. First, I am delighted to say apprenticeships have restarted, including in the wet trades in the construction industry. I met the CIF on a number of occasions in recent times to...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: Obviously, Clonmel, Bansha and everywhere else in County Tipperary.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: I can assure the Deputy that they will have my full attention, as will everywhere else in the country. However, there has been a problem for a long time in towns such as Tralee where there are many young men not working. What Deputy Tom Fleming is saying about the construction industry is correct. We need to ensure as many of these young men as possible have an opportunity, if that is...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: I think about thatching also.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: ----- which means that there is no compulsion on a lone parent whose child is between seven years of age, unlike in the North where it is five years of age, and 14 years of age. All of the options in terms of education, training, community employment and other participation will be available. If the lone parent does not want to seek any of those opportunities, there is no compulsion. ...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: That may be meant as a kindness but the consequence of Sinn Féin's policy and its policy in the South is to trap lone parents-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: ----- in particular younger lone parents, in, unfortunately, what might become welfare dependency. We have spent as a society billions extra on lone parents. That is important because they are at a greater risk of poverty than almost any other group. Yet, with all of that spending, notwithstanding additional spending made by the previous Government during the boom, the actual outcomes for...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: The Deputy's lecturing and hectoring tone-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: ----- does not do anything to help lone parents in Ireland.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: Sinn Féin should engage seriously in this issue. In fairness to Fianna Fáil, during the time of the boom-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: Am I allowed to speak now? Is this how Sinn Féin wants to rule us? We will all be silenced.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: That is what they are used to in their own venue but they will not silence me. We are free citizens in a free Republic. The Deputy should remember that. We are lucky to be able to stand in this House and speak freely. I would be pleased if the Deputies would allow me to do that.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: The previous Government, during the period of the boom, raised lone parent incomes very significantly. Unfortunately, the outcome in terms of reducing poverty levels for lone parents was not very good. In fact, the situation grew worse. Worse still, the impact on the outcomes for children of lone parents who grow up in a largely jobless household can be quite poor. Lone parents and the...
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: However, the Sinn Féin vision for lone parents is to say to a smart, bright-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: ----- 25 or 30 year old that it wants that person to stay dependent on welfare-----
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: -----until that person is roughly 47 to 50 years of age.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: That is not my vision. I know that lone parents are anxious to take part in work, education and training.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: We introduced the jobseeker's transition payment. More than 13,000 lone parents have already transitioned to that over the past number of years. I do not know if the Deputy knows that.
- Leaders' Questions (16 Apr 2015)
Joan Burton: The impact of that has been a very significant increase in the number of lone parents who have gone on to take education and training with the support of after-school child care which has been funded and with the further development of community based child care. As the Deputy well knows, many lone parents take advantage of this child care, which is delivered at a very high standard and...