Results 11,581-11,600 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Each year in the Department decisions are made on approximately two million claims across a range of schemes. The deciding officers (DOs) and Designated Persons (DPs) who make these decisions are very conscious of their obligations to customers. Every effort is made to ensure that people receive any entitlements due to them and that information and services are provided in a timely and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: In line with the recent Statement of Government Priorities, the Government has recently decided to proceed with work to develop a roadmap and timeline for the introduction of a new, universal, supplementary workplace retirement saving scheme. Development of this roadmap for consideration by Government will be progressed by the establishment of a high level Universal Retirement Savings...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: A breakdown of the average time taken by the Department to award applications for social welfare payments, as of January 2015, is detailed in Table 1 below. The processing times vary by scheme. This principally reflects the fact that the legal eligibility conditions - such as means tests, family circumstances and medical status - are more complex for some schemes than for others. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Eligibility (5 Mar 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: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 70,000 recipients of the One Parent Family Payment and it is expected that the scheme will cost €607 million in 2015. Before I introduced the reforms, the One Parent Family Payment was a passive scheme with limited engagement by the State with recipients. For many lone parents, most of whom are women, this has meant long-term social welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Government’s primary strategy to reduce long-term unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. This strategy has been succeeding, with an increase of over 80,000 in employment over the last 2 years. The Action Plan for Jobs is focused on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The official measures of employment, unemployment and labour force participation are sourced from the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS). These measures are collected in line with practice throughout the EU, and are internationally comparable and robust. Reflecting the improvement in the labour market, youth unemployment continues to fall. For example, the seasonally adjusted youth...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Administration (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: JobBridge has made significant progress since its introduction in July 2011. To date, over 37,700 internship placements having commenced, there are currently 6,140 interns on the programme and a further 1,129 positions are advertised on the JobBridge website. Participation both as a host organisation and as an intern on the scheme is voluntary. The Department has a range of monitoring...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Rates (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Child Benefit is a universal payment made to families with children. It assists those families with the cost associated with raising children. It is paid to almost 1.2 million children in over 600,000 families. Expenditure on child benefit payments in 2014 was just over €1.9 billion. Altogether, the Department spends in the region of €3 billion in providing income support...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 70,700 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015. I am aware of the contents of the report “The Daft.ie Rental Report An analysis of recent trends in the Irish rental market 2014 - Year in Review” and the difficulties people are experiencing in maintaining affordable rented accommodation...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Administration (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: There are approximately 70,700 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015. I am acutely aware of the difficulties people are experiencing in maintaining affordable rented accommodation in areas of high demand in the current private rented market in Dublin and surrounding commuter counties. The Department’s response to the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: I am very happy to confirm my announcement this week that I will be extending eligibility to the one-parent family payment (OFP) to lone parents who are also eligible for the half-rate carer’s allowance (CA) payment, until their youngest child is aged 16 years. This acknowledges the special situation for lone parents who are caring and, in particular, acknowledges the commitment of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Administration (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: JobBridge has made significant progress since its introduction in July 2011. To date, over 37,700 internship placements having commenced, there are currently 6,140 interns on the programme and a further 1,129 positions are advertised on the JobBridge website. The Department intends to undertake quantitative evaluations of a number of programmes, including JobBridge, through econometric...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Expenditure (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The 2015 Revised Estimates Volume provides for expenditure of €19.378 billion by the Department this year. This equates to 10% of projected GDP. The expenditure ceilings for future years will reflect some adjustments to take into account the estimated impacts of further improvements in labour market conditions on Live Register expenditure. Final determination of these ceilings will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Anti-Poverty Strategy (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection’s primary role is to provide income supports to sustain an adequate standard of living and to prevent poverty. The Department spends in the region of €20 billion in providing income supports every year. These and other social transfers are very effective in reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate: in 2013, social transfers (including pensions)...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Gateway is a Government initiative in the Local Authorities which aims to provide short-term quality and suitable work opportunities to improve the employability and maintain the work readiness of those who have been unemployed for 24 months or more. To date there are some 1,800 participants. Employees on Gateway with income over €352 per week are liable for Class A PRSI...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payments (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: As of the end of January there were approximately 69,700 recipients of the One Parent Family Payment (OFP) scheme at an expected cost of €607 million in 2015. The final phase of the one-parent family payment (OFP) scheme age change reforms will be taking place on 2 July, 2015, when the maximum age limit of the youngest child at which an OFP recipient’s payment ceases will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Respite Care Grant Administration (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: The financial supports available to carers in Ireland, are among the highest rates of income support in Europe. Expenditure on carers has increased significantly in recent years and it is estimated that the overall expenditure for 2015 will be €822 million which is €11 million higher than the expected outturn for 2014. This does not include the value of other welfare payments...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff (5 Mar 2015)

Joan Burton: Each year in the Department decisions are made on over two million claims across a range of schemes. The deciding officers (DOs) and Designated Persons (DPs) who make these decisions are very conscious of their obligations to customers. Every effort is made to ensure that people receive any entitlements due to them and that information and services are provided in a timely and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (5 Mar 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 guardians payment (contributory), maternity benefit and adoptive benefit. Ordinary employees who have access to the full range of social insurance...