Results 15,641-15,660 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Correspondence (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department administers over 70 schemes and services through a network of local and central offices throughout the country. In some instances customers call into their local office to submit a claim, while in others claims are made by post or online. For example, applications for State Contributory Pension are proactively initiated by the Department where there is a known entitlement,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Delays (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 560 and 561 together. The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the jobseeker’s allowance appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 12 February 2014. Her supplementary welfare allowance appeal was registered on 3 March 2014. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Post Office Network (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I was very pleased to sign a multi-year contract with An Post for the delivery of over the counter cash services to welfare clients in December last year following an EU-wide procurement competition. This contract, which is very substantial in terms of its reach, value and impact, enables the disbursement of cash payments to some nine hundred thousand (900,000) clients currently. These...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Contracts Data (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I always endeavour to be helpful in relation to the information provided in answers to Parliamentary Questions and to ensure that the response addresses the specific question raised. I would point out to the Deputy that the information sought in the Parliamentary Questions referred to was not the same and, accordingly, there were significant differences in the details supplied in the answers...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Programme for Government Implementation (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Programme for Government commits to implementing a fundamental programme of reform of the system of social protection. The scale of this reform is challenging and wide-reaching. I am committed to working with the Department and its agencies in the delivery of the commitments in this Programme for Government and substantial progress on many of the commitments has already been made. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Public Services Card (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 567 and 568 together. The Public Services Card (PSC) has been introduced to enable individuals gain access to public services more efficiently and with a minimum of duplication of effort, while at the same time preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible. The PSC is designed to replace other cards within the public sector such as the Free Travel...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an appeal, by the person concerned, was registered on 6 February 2014. In accordance with the statutory requirements, the Appeals Office contacted the person concerned and asked him to set out the complete and up to date grounds of his appeal. This information was submitted on the 26 February 2014 and in accordance with the statutory...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: Information relating to a claimant’s address is not currently coded to the geographical location of the address. As such it is not possible to accurately report persons in receipt of social welfare payments living in a particular town at present. The following is a tabular statement detailing the number of recipients of working age on income supports and the number of recipients of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: One parent family payment (OFP) is a social assistance payment for people who are parenting alone. The amount payable depends on an assessment of the parent’s weekly means. In assessing means, account is taken of all cash income which the person is receiving, including maintenance payments. Currently, earnings from employment or income from self-employment up to €90 per week...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Semi-State Bodies Remuneration (25 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: There are no commercial State bodies operating under the remit of the Department of Social Protection.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Mortgage Repayments Issues (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The original purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was to provide short-term support to eligible people who are unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which is their sole place of residence. The supplement assists with the interest portion of the mortgage repayments only. There are currently approximately 8,900 people in receipt of mortgage...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: A child under 16 years is deemed medically eligible for carer's allowance when domiciliary care allowance is in payment for that child. Once the child reaches 16 years of age and entitlement to domiciliary care allowance ceases, a review of the continuing entitlement to carer’s allowance is undertaken as medical eligibility is no longer automatically satisfied and must be confirmed....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The family concerned are currently in receipt of rent supplement of €128.80 per week. The Department understands that they have been given notice to quit their current accommodation as the owner wishes to occupy same. The Department also understands that the local authority in Meath has offered the family alternative accommodation but that it has been declined. The purpose of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Insolvency Payments Scheme Payments (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: 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 entitlements include wages, holiday pay, sick pay, payment in lieu...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question on 22 November 2013. The person concerned was refused carers allowance on the grounds that the care recipient is not so disabled as to require full time care and attention as prescribed in regulations. She was notified of this decision on 6 January 2014, the reasons for it and of her...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Eligibility (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The social welfare system is primarily a contingency-based system, with entitlement based on defined contingencies, such as sickness, unemployment, old age or widowhood. Primary social welfare legislation provides that only one social welfare payment is payable at any one time. While it can happen that a person may experience more than one contingency at the same time - for example, an...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Data (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are currently approximately 78,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 to 114, inclusive, and 119 together. Tús and Gateway were established to provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are long-term unemployed. A key feature of these initiatives is that all selection is undertaken by random processes conducted at local level by the Department of Social Protection. Tús and Gateway are part of a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Consultancy Contracts Expenditure (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The procurement of services is essential to support the Department in providing a high quality service to the public in a cost effective and efficient manner and is governed by a comprehensive regulatory, legal and procedural framework. The Department engages a range of consultants (individuals or organisations) to provide intellectual or knowledge based services (expert analysis and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Applications (13 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the Department received applications from the person concerned for Carer’s Allowance on 12 April 2013 and for Jobseeker's Allowance on 14 February 2014. His application for Carer’s Allowance was withdrawn on 1 October 2013 on the grounds that requested information was not provided to a social welfare investigator regarding his employment record while living...