Results 15,881-15,900 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an oral hearing of the appeal of the person concerned took place on 27th February 2014 and that the Appeals Officer is now considering the appeal in the light of all of the evidence submitted, including that adduced at the oral hearing. The person concerned will be notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision when the appeal has...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: Self-employed workers, including self-employed fishermen, whose businesses fail or suffer from reduced demand or who do not have constant or continuous employment, may access social welfare support by establishing entitlement to assistance-based payments such as jobseeker’s allowance and disability allowance. In the case of jobseeker’s allowance they can apply for the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Initiatives (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: JobPath is the Government’s new labour market activation service aimed specifically at the long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed. JobPath will augment and complement the Department’s own employment service capacity as well as that of Local Employment Service (LES) and Job Clubs providers, who operate under contract to the Department,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on 27th August 2013. The application was disallowed as the child was not considered to satisfy the qualifying conditions for the allowance. A letter issued on the 1st October 2013 advising of the decision. The person concerned has requested a review of this decision and supplied additional information on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the current average time taken to decide domiciliary care allowance appeals decided by summary decision is 24.0 weeks and 28.4 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. Appeal processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation. They include all activities during this period...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The potential risk to An Post business into the future has been the subject of in-depth discussion over the past week. I think this is only right, given the importance of the network to the social fabric of our society. In this regard, I am very happy to provide my own support for the post office network and the valuable work being delivered by postmasters throughout the country. On the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on the 29th July 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers were received in the Social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Deputy has not referred to any particular scheme in her question but I assume that she is referring to recent communication from Departmental officials to job-seeking clients aged 62 years and older. Up until Budget 2014, older jobseekers were required, as part of their entitlement to a Jobseeker’s payment, to comply with the Department’s activation measures when requested...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 27th August 2013. The application was disallowed as the child was not considered to satisfy the qualifying conditions for the allowance. A letter issued on the 23rd September 2013 advising of the decision. The person concerned subsequently requested a review of the decision. The case was reviewed...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Drug Rehabilitation Projects (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: In response to the Deputy’s question, I can confirm that there is no Departmental moratorium in place for sponsoring organisations in relation to the recruitment of Community Employment (CE) Supervisors. Where the sponsoring organisation wishes to proceed, and the numbers of participants employed on a project warrant the hiring of additional supervision, an application setting out the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 6th February 2014. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Agencies Staff Remuneration (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: There are three agencies that come under the aegis of my Department; the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. All the staff of these agencies are paid in accordance with pay scales approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. There are no top-up payments made to any of these staff.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Places (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Tús programme selects candidates from the long-term unemployed who are signing on a full-time basis on the Live Register for jobseeker's allowance and are in receipt of a payment. Candidates are selected using a randomised system and are referred to Local Development Companies who co-ordinate the allocation of places with the community and voluntary sector. Community and voluntary...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (4 Mar 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 15 October 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers were received in the Social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications (27 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 2nd August 2013. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors whose opinion was that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 9th September 2013 advising of the decision to disallow the application. The person concerned...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Applications (27 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The person concerned was refused Disability Allowance by the Department on the grounds that they did not satisfy the medical conditionality. The Deciding Officer took into account the opinion of the Department’s Medical Assessor that the person concerned was not substantially restricted in seeking suitable employment, by reason of a specified disability, which is expected to last for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Initiatives (27 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 127 and 143 together. Gateway is one of a number of initiatives being offered by the Department to bridge the gap between unemployment and re-entering the workforce. The initiative is fulfilling the obligation in the Government’s programmes Pathways to Work and the Action Plan for Jobs which sets out specific commitments through which local...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (27 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who has decided to convene an oral hearing on 14th March 2014 in order to determine the appeal. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the hearing. There has been a rapid and sustained increase in the number of appeals received in the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (27 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an oral hearing of the appeal of the person concerned took place on 5th February 2014 and that the Appeals Officer is now considering the appeal in the light of all of the evidence submitted, including that adduced at the oral hearing. The person concerned will be notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision when the appeal has...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Eligibility (27 Feb 2014)

Joan Burton: There is no record of an application for a rent supplement from the person concerned having being received in my Department; however it is open for him to make an application. It should be noted that persons engaged in full-time employment do not normally meet the qualification criteria for this scheme.