Results 12,041-12,060 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

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

Joan Burton: The report in question: “Person or Number? 2” was produced by a group of NGOs dealing with migrants. It draws heavily on 35 case studies as its main source of information. It is important to be clear at the outset that these 35 cases are not a random sample of social welfare customers, but were drawn only from a selection of people who sought help from outside agencies.The 35...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Payments (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2015 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the farm assist scheme of €88.7...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Industrial Relations (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: I am glad to say that I have approved measures to facilitate engagement between the trustees of a pension scheme and groups representing the interests of pensioner and deferred scheme members. I recently signed the Occupational Pensions Schemes (Section 50 and 50B) (Amendments) Regulations, 2015 and approved Pensions Authority guidance to facilitate this change.The change to regulations will...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,500 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015. In the case of private rented accommodation, tenancy arrangements involve a contract between the landlord and the tenant. The Department has no contractual relationship with the landlord and tenant behaviour is a matter for the landlord in the first...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Delays (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The review and appeal processes in the Department of Social Protection are, at all times, predicated on the principles of fairness and natural justice. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeal...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,500 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 market, including those in receipt of rent supplement in areas of Tipperary. The Department is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Payments (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The farm assist scheme provides support for farmers on low incomes and is similar to jobseeker’s allowance. Farm assist recipients retain the advantages of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. The 2015 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the farm assist scheme of €88.7...

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

Joan Burton: The payment of Rent Supplement is a matter between the Department and the tenant, subject to the tenant satisfying the eligibility criteria and payment issues directly to the tenant. Where the Department is notified of issues regarding a tenant not passing the Rent Supplement to the landlord, the Department can request the tenant to authorise payment directly to the landlord. This can only...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Data (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The latest data on the long-term unemployed are from the CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) for Q3 2014. The number of long-term unemployed at that time was 139,000, down by over 60,000, or almost one third, from the level seen in 2012. The long term unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 9.5% in 2012 to 6.4% in late 2014. The Pathways to WorkStrategy sets out a...

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

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,500 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 market, including areas surrounding Dublin such as North Kildare. The Department is finalising a...

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

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,500 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €298 million for 2015. The Department is finalising a review of the maximum rent limits and raising rent limits may not be the solution to the problem as it is likely to add to further rental inflation and could impact, not alone on rent supplement recipients, but also on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Reform (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The 2012 Report on Pension Charges undertaken by my Department, working with the Central Bank and the Pensions Authority, was the first comprehensive Government report on this subject. Since publication, a range of measures have been taken to deliver on the report’s recommendations and work is ongoing in this regard. For example, in line with the recommendation that the...

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

Joan Burton: I believe that the Deputy is referring to a recent report on Job Clubs prepared by the internal audit unit of the Department. In preparing this report the Department’s internal auditor raised a query in relation to the appropriateness or otherwise of one Job Club hosting a small number of interns in a role of Job Club instructor. It is important to note in this regard that the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The Department provides a free recruitment service to employers and recruitment agencies through the Jobs Ireland website (). The purpose of the service is to support employers and recruitment agencies to increase employment and to provide a mechanism through which jobseekers can search for job opportunities and submit applications. In 2014, over 110,000 vacancy positions were advertised on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Poverty Data (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The recently published CSO release on SILC 2013 shows that the basic deprivation rate was 30.5 per cent, an increase of 3.6 per cent on 2012. The increase on deprivation in particular affected children, the unemployed, households with no one at work, and lone parent households. Overall, the rise in basic deprivation has affected all income groups and reflects the legacy of the economic...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Payments (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. The Government has provided €44.3 million for this scheme in 2015. In 2014, BSCFA payments were made to over 166,000 families in respect of over 304,400 children at a cost of €42.5 million. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: The Government’s primary strategy to tackle youth unemployment is to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth and the availability of productive employment for young people. This strategy has been succeeding, with an increase of over 80,000 in employment over the last 2 years....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: There are currently 69,884 lone parents being supported by the one-parent family payment (OFP) scheme at an estimated cost to my Department of approximately €607 million in 2015. The purpose of the phased OFP scheme age change reforms that were introduced in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2012, is to reduce long-term social welfare dependency and poverty among lone parents...

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

Joan Burton: Defined benefit pension schemes in Ireland are, in general, set up under trust. The trustees of such pension schemes have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of all scheme members.Section 50 of the Pensions Act makes provision for the restructuring of a defined benefit pension scheme where the scheme fails to comply with the Funding Standard. The Pensions Authority can either...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (5 Feb 2015)

Joan Burton: As detailed to the Deputy in reply to Parliamentary Question No 175 of 27th January 2015 and Parliamentary Question No 47 of 15th January 2015, there is no record of the Department having sought a rent reduction from the client. If the Deputy has information pertaining to the client and their rent situation he should contact the Department directly to discuss.