Results 15,301-15,320 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: No. They are earning €422.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: When someone moves onto a Tús scheme he or she works 19.5 hours a week for their social welfare payment. In this case the social welfare payment was €422 plus a variety of other supports. If someone was working in a private business in Waterford earning €422 plus a medical card, fuel allowance and back to school clothing and footwear allowances they are expected to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Job Creation (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I am coming at the issue from a slightly different approach. A constituent of Deputy Halligan who has been unemployed for a long time, along with 7,500 people at any one time, essentially do a one-year community contribution because almost everyone who is on Tús is working and contributing something in his or her local community. That is one of the reasons the scheme is so popular....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: There were 300,590 recipients of jobseeker’s allowance at the end of December last year. Up to 100,000 of those were working part time or signing for credits and the number has fallen significantly since. Reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced when Deputy O'Dea was a member of Government in 2009. Budget 2014 further extended the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: That is a fact. The facts are there to show it. The actual rates for people getting this very important allowance for children and their parents have increased significantly. In 2013, the granting rate for this particular allowance went up to 73%. I do not have the statistics to hand for all of the other allowances because the Deputy did not ask about them in his question. If he cares...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: Domiciliary care allowance, DCA, is currently paid to over 25,000 clients, parents and guardians, in respect of over 27,000 children at a cost in excess of €140 million a year, when the cost of the respite care grant is included. In 2013, over 4,800 applications were received, with 3,227 claims awarded in the year, including those awarded on review and on appeal. The situation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I confirm the DCA eligibility review programme will not recommence until the implications of the judgment are clarified. The review is required under social welfare law by the Comptroller and Auditor General and by the Committee of Public Accounts. We must carry out regular reviews of all our schemes and everything in the Department. That is the context for the review. The review...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The Comptroller and Auditor General has determined that social welfare payments are subject to review. The parents will be given three months' notice of the child's review to enable them to get the documentation together and apply for an appointment. When this time has elapsed, they will receive the forms from the Department and will have two months to complete them before getting an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: -----pending the redesign of the system. I do appreciate any advice from any of the Deputies on how they feel the system can be improved. I am very anxious to ensure that parents with children who have special needs in the context of the domiciliary care allowance access any allowance to which they are entitled. That is very important.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The domiciliary care allowance, DCA, is a monthly payment to the parent or guardian of a child with a disability so severe that the child requires care and attention and-or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be provided to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy will recall, it is for that reason that after I became Minister - we have had a number of discussions on this - I set up the review group, which was chaired by Sylda Langford and included quite a number of parents and which involved carrying out a sampling exercise involving 1,000 parents. This included work on the domiciliary care allowance right down to redesigning the forms...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy knows, it has been made absolutely clear to parents - it is a unique feature of the Irish system in regard to this allowance and to other medically-based allowances paid in respect of disability or invalidity - that under our system, we allow people to submit fresh medical evidence for review purposes at any stage. We have discussed this before. If people immediately go to an...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Activation Measures (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 11 together. The unemployment rate has fallen to 11.8% – the lowest rate in 5 years – and is down from a peak of just over 15% in 2011. Employment rose by 61,000 during 2013, which represents a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. The Government’s primary support for activation is through policies to create the environment for a strong...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Placements (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: The aim of JobBridge is to help individuals break the vicious cycle whereby they can’t get a job without experience but they can’t get experience without a job. An evaluation conducted by Indecon Economic Consultants found that 61% of interns who finish placements secure employment within five months. These progression outcomes compare very favourably to those elsewhere in...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 15, 17, 24, 28 and 40 together. There are currently approximately 78,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme was introduced in 1977 which provided for the payment of additional supplements, including rent supplement. The purpose of the rent...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: Reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced in 2009. Budget 2014 further extended the reduced rates of jobseeker’s allowance to recipients under 26 years of age. This measure aims to incentivise young jobseeker’s allowance recipients to avail of education and training opportunities. If a jobseeker in receipt of the reduced...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Levels (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: In the first instance, the Government’s primary strategy to tackle long-term unemployment in the Dublin North region, as with the rest of the country, is to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. However, the Government also recognises the need for additional measures to address...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pensions Reform (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: I am informed by The Pensions Authority that 54 defined benefit pension schemes closed in 2013 and to date 7 schemes have closed in 2014.The primary objective of pension policy is to ensure the sustainability of pension provision and in that context to support an environment which will provide an adequate income for people in their retirement. Significant changes in pension policy have been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Child Benefit Data (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: Child benefit is a payment to parents for the support of their children. It is paid to some 607,919 families in respect of 1.16 million children, with an expenditure of approximately €1.9 billion in 2013. 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 eligible families. A policy...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (16 Apr 2014)

Joan Burton: Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is an allowance paid in respect of children under 16 years, who have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. Eligibility for DCA is not decided on the medical or psychological condition, but on the resulting disability that necessitates the degree...