Results 12,581-12,600 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Funding (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: Community employment (CE) is the largest employment programme of the Department. It aims to enhance the employability and mobility of disadvantaged and unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. In addition, it helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exchequer Savings (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services and serves a wide and diverse group of customers including families, people in employment, unemployed people, people with disabilities, carers, and older people. The overall aim of the Department is to provide people with the information, financial support and other services that they require in a timely and customer friendly...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The reintroduction of the Christmas bonus, albeit on a partial basis, along with the other welfare measures announced in the Budget are real indicators of the economic recovery and the Government’s ambition to ensure it will be a recovery felt by all. This is the first Budget where we have had the scope to make real positive improvement for welfare recipients. This is evidenced by the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Pensions Authority has the power under section 18 of the Pensions Act to investigate the state or conduct of a pension scheme. I would ask you to bring any concerns you have in relation to the conduct of the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme to the attention of the Pensions Authority. The Authority can then consider whether or not these concerns warrant an investigation under section...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Personal Insolvency Practitioners (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The reduction in the bankruptcy period from 12 to 3 years, and the reduction from €1,400 to approximately €700 in the official costs associated with bankruptcy have made bankruptcy a more viable option for a debtor struggling with debt to return to solvency. I am advised by my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality, with responsibility for the Insolvency Service of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud Investigations (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: Child benefit is a payment to parents for the support of their children. It is paid to some 616,276 families in respect of 1.18 million children as at 30 November 2014, with an expenditure of approximately €1.9 billion in 2014. Safeguarding the child benefit budget is a priority and, in this regard the Department has taken a proactive approach to ensuring that it is only paid to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Support Services (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: JobsIreland (www.jobsireland.ie) is a free vacancy advertising and job search service provided by the Department of Social Protection to support both employers and jobseekers. Jobseekers may search for jobs opportunities by accessing the bs Ireland website, the bseeker app or by visiting their local Intreo/Employment Centre. To connect employers with prospective employees who meet their...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. I am keeping the matter regarding rent limits under consideration and the review being undertaken by the Department will be finalised shortly. The Department is in a position of both significant influence in the private rented market and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Court Recommendations (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department’s position remains as outlined in the previous answers to the Deputy’s question on this topic. I refer you to Questions 98 and 99 of 21 October 2014. In July 2008, the Labour Court recommended that an agreed pension scheme should be introduced for Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors and that such a scheme should be adequately...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. In the case of private rented accommodation, tenancy arrangements involve a contract between the landlord and the tenant. The Department has no relationship with the landlord and tenant behaviour is a matter for the landlord in the first instance....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The specific statistics requested by the Deputy are not routinely maintained by the Department. However, a recent query of system data shows that in the past 6 months (June to November 2014) 1,382 children whose parents were previously deemed eligible for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) have turned 16 and their DCA subsequently ceased. Of these 1,382 children, 458 have applied for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. I am keeping the matter regarding rent limits under consideration and the review being undertaken by the Department will be finalised shortly. The Department is in a position of both significant influence in the private rented market and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payment Application Numbers (10 Dec 2014)

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 €31.3 million for the scheme in 2014. In 2012 a Departmental working group made up of staff...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Legislation (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I requested the OECD to carry out a review of the Irish pension system in 2012. The OECD released its report (OECD Reviews of Pensions Systems – Ireland) in April 2013. One of the key recommendations in the report was to increase pensions coverage through a universal mandatory or quasi-mandatory employment based pension system. In line with this recommendation and with the Programme...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: There are currently approximately 71,800 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. I am keeping the matter regarding rent limits under consideration and the review being undertaken by the Department will be finalised shortly. The Department is in a position of both significant influence in the private rented market and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Poverty (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: Government policy around tackling poverty for children and families has recently been articulated in the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People: Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, which adopted a child-specific social target for poverty reduction aiming to lift 70,000 children out of poverty by 2020, equivalent to a reduction of two-thirds on the 2011 rate. The Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy will be aware that I commissioned two reports relating to the Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) scheme during 2012. One of these reports dealt specifically with the relationship between DCA and disability allowance (DA) for young adults. A proposal to extend the age limit for receipt of DCA to 18 years of age was made as a recommendation in both of these reports, which were...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection will administer, on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, a €100 water conservation grant for households that complete a valid response to Irish Water’s customer registration process. The grant will be paid to the registered householders annually, in respect of their primary dwellings, with the first...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Homeless Accommodation Provision (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection is actively engaging with Threshold in implementing measures to ensure that the housing needs of rent supplement customers who are in danger of becoming homeless are being addressed by providing for increased flexibility within the administration of the rent supplement scheme. I understand that the provision of resources for Threshold is a matter for the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Eligibility (10 Dec 2014)

Joan Burton: I should state at the outset that eligibility for Carer’s Benefit or Allowance is not based on the type of impairment or disease but on the level of the care requirement consequent on the impairment. The criteria for receipt of Carer’s Benefit or Allowance is that the recipient of care must be aged 16 or over and is so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention...