Results 13,961-13,980 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I am prepared to stay, I just had that one query. I understand the clerk will ascertain the position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: It is going very well, it is very popular.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: On the wage subsidy for people with a disability, in 2014, 1308 people received this to June 2014. In total in 2013, 1100 people received the subsidy and in 2012, 1000 received it. In 2011, 916 received it, and in 2010, 833 people received it. There are now 812 employers, to the end of June, involved in the scheme. The situation is improving but nowhere near the rate of improvement that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I strongly support the recommendations in the Mangan report, which was raised by Deputy O'Dea, Deputy Butler and others. Deputy Butler in particular has on a number of occasions at the committee strongly supported the extension of invalidity and permanent disability benefits to the self-employed. I have seen some organisations representing the self-employed criticising the proposal - Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: Okay, fine. What other ones am I to do now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: Does the fraud issue come within this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: The compliance on anti-fraud strategy that I launched earlier this year is a rolled out programme for 2014 to 2018, and if anybody wants a detailed copy, it is on the website or we can send it. Under the additional measures in the strategy, I want to move to using what has become a very fashionable term - big data. This means using predictive analytical techniques to enhance the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: When the Department introduces the return-to-work dividend for families, whereby they will be able to hold onto some of those social welfare payments in respect of children, I hope this will be a significant incentive for people to return to work. The other point pertains to the Department's employment service and if the Deputy has specific examples, I ask him to pass them to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: There are a number of questions. I will take Deputy Bannon's question on the public services card first. I understand the company which does the work is a subsidiary or part of De La Rue. It is based in Bray. I am aware that there are some external inputs into the software systems, but I can get the Deputy more detail. Significantly, it is an Irish operation. It has gone quite well so...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I am sorry. On the redundancy debt, I heard that slightly peculiar RTE report. We took over the redundancy debt from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation because, although I do not want to continuously harp back to the awful events in 2008 and afterwards, there was a considerable backlog. The Deputy may have known people - I certainly did - who had worked in construction and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy will understand that as people on the live register go back to work, the actual level of claims on some of the Department's payment schemes has been falling. I am happy to say that unless the Deputy has personal experience as a representative of individual constituents who have had issues, we have not received any complaints. On the contrary, I am personally aware of important...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I was at a farm last night and they were doing very well, and they were delighted with-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: This is an important point and I thank Senator Moloney. The key point is that funerals, particularly in the Dublin area, are extraordinarily expensive. Thankfully this trend has not been as extreme outside of Dublin. Recently somebody was telling me about the cost of placing a small urn containing the ashes of a loved one in a family grave. The family members thought they would be able...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: No, it comes from exceptional needs payments.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: No, not in that area.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I commissioned the OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, to prepare a report on introducing a supplementary pension scheme which would be developed along the lines of the successful schemes in Australia and New Zealand. On occasion, I have described it as a shamrock or Celtic saver. It would allow people to save money in a safe way to generate an additional pension,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Review of Vote 37: Minister for Social Protection (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I thank the Chairman and members of this committee for the invitation extended to me to appear before the committee to consider further the social protection Vote for 2014, to review the mid-year position and to look ahead to budget 2015. My officials have provided members with briefing material which I hope will assist us in our deliberations today. I propose to give a brief overview of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Expenditure (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 48, 150 and 157 together. The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is a targeted scheme catering for the accommodation needs of persons in receipt of Rent Supplement from the Department of Social Protection, generally for more than 18 months, and who are assessed as having a long-term housing need. From its inception in 2004 up to the end of June 2014...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 49 and 115 together. Carers Benefit is designed to facilitate people, including job-sharers, in full-time employment to leave the workforce temporarily to care for someone who is need of full-time care and attention. The employment conditions attached to Carers Benefit (including the requirement to have been working 16 hours per week or 32 hours per...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Insolvency Payments Scheme Eligibility (17 Sep 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 54 and 142 together. The purpose of the insolvency payments scheme, which operates under the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act, 1984, which, in turn, derives from EU Council Directive 987/80, is to protect certain outstanding pay-related entitlements due to employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer. These...