Results 11,141-11,160 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Seanad: One-Parent Family Supports: Motion (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: At the outset, I thank Senators Zappone, van Turnhout, Mary Ann O'Brien and Mac Conghail for raising this important issue. The one-parent family payment scheme has played an important role in providing income support to lone parents since its introduction in its present form in 1997. The period from 1997 to 2010 saw the number of recipients increase by 50% and the annual expenditure...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Funding (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department has given the North Leitrim Men’s Group approval for the recruitment of a replacement supervisor. The advertisement and recruitment for this post is a matter for the Sponsor Group.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Birth Certificates Administration (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: Section 63 of the Civil Registration Act 2004 provides that a superintendent registrar may correct an error of fact in the register of births on application by a person having an interest in the matter. The person referred to should contact their local civil registration service office at Sister Joseph's Road, Killarney, Co. Kerry (Phone: 064 6632251) to arrange a meeting with a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, has decided to allow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision. The person concerned has been notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social...

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

Joan Burton: It is understood that the Deputy is referring the cost of an €8 per week increase in social welfare rates paid at a maximum personal weekly rate of €188. The €188 per week rate applies to the following schemes: - Jobseeker's Benefit & Allowance - Farm Assist & Pre-Retirement Allowance - Back to Education Allowance& Back to Work Allowance - One...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department does not collect the information sought by the Deputy. Defined benefit pension schemes in Ireland are, in general, set up under trust. The trustees of such pension schemes have a fiduciary duty under Trust law to act in the best interest of all scheme members. In addition, the Pensions Act, 1990 provides for the regulation of occupational pension schemes and Personal...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: The family income supplement (FIS) is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees on low earnings with children. FIS is designed to prevent in-work poverty for low paid workers with child dependants and to offer a financial incentive to take-up employment. There are in the region of 50,000 families in receipt of FIS, an increase of 70 per cent since 2011. The average FIS...

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

Joan Burton: The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The 2015 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseekers’ schemes of €3.01 billion. Long-term unemployment refers to people with continuous periods of unemployment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Services Programme (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: This matter raised by the Deputy concerns the award of a contract under the community services programme (CSP) for the delivery of household repair, maintenance and small building works services to elderly and disabled persons in County Limerick. Contracts under the CSP are awarded on a renewable basis for a duration of up to three years, following a review process that examines a number...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Widow's Pension Eligibility (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: Under current Social Welfare legislation any person participating on a Community Employment Scheme is disqualified from receiving widower’s contributory pension. This came into effect from the 16thof January 2012. The person concerned applied for the widower’s contributory pension on the 17thof December 2014. As this person is currently participating on a Community Employment...

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

Joan Burton: Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which entitles them to access long-term benefits such as State pension (contributory) and widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's pension (contributory) as well as maternity benefit, adoptive benefit and guardians payment (contributory). Self-employed workers may also access social welfare supports by establishing...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Applications (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department received an application for Rent Supplement from the client concerned on 27th March 2015. The clients Rent Supplement claim was awarded on 1st April 2015.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: The general eligibility conditions for entitlement to State Pension Contributory for claimants and their dependants are set out in legislation, primarily in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 and the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 142 of 2007), as amended. Section 112(1) of the Act provides for an increase in the weekly rate 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: Irish Language (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to providing a quality customer service in both Irish and English. To this end a range of forms, leaflets and other documents is available in both Irish and English on the Department’s website www.welfare.ie. Where customers correspond with us in Irish, they are replied to in Irish.However, due to the large number of Departmental offices nationwide, it is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 8th July 2014. The application was not allowed as the child was not considered to satisfy the qualifying conditions for the allowance. A letter issued on the 29th September 2014 advising of the decision. A review of this decision was requested on the 11th November 2014. The application was examined...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Data (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department collects information from a claimant’s medical practitioner on the nature of the illness giving rise to the claim for disability allowance (DA) in order to make a formal decision on entitlement. This information at present is not readily accessible to enable the Department to make use of that data to identify trends etc. However, the Department is pursuing relevant...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (15 Apr 2015)

Joan Burton: Procedures have been agreed between the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills (D/ES) that ensure that all one-parent family payment (OFP) recipients who are participating in full-time education on a qualified course, including on a post-graduate course, will be able to complete their course with income support – subject to the normal OFP scheme...

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

Joan Burton: In March 2015, my Department registered 14,880 claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) and 11,373 for Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB). During the month the average times for the awarding of JA and JB claims were 2 weeks and 1 week, respectively. My Department has measurable performance targets for the majority of schemes under its remit. The performance target for JA and JB is that...

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

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy for carer’s benefit is not available on a county basis. Breakdown of the number of carer's benefit awarded/disallowed from 1 January 2014 to date in 2015; breakdown of the number of carer’s allowance awarded/disallowed from 1 January 2014 to date in 2015, with an indicative breakdown by County (*); the average waiting time for a decision...