Results 17,401-17,420 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: Since the scheme started, 22,000 people, which is made up mostly of young people-----
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: The scheme is only fully operational for about two years.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: The Senator did mention it.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: As many as 22,000 young people have got an opportunity. Would I have liked those young people to get a full-time job straight away and at their first interview? Of course I would. I have been involved in the education of Irish students for more than 20 years and as such I have more ambition for them than the Senator or his party seems to have. He spoke very movingly about the unemployment...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: The change is also difficult for some people in Fianna Fáil. In the long run when we look back, I will be happy. In the beginning when JobBridge was discussed people felt that few people would avail of the scheme. The reality is 22,000 people, most of whom are young people, have availed of the opportunity but the scheme is not confined to young people. The statistics show that about...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: From the opening contribution by Senator Cullinane on behalf of Sinn Féin, it seems to me that Sinn Féin has no faith or belief in and no hope for our young people. That is deeply regrettable in the context of attempting to pretend to speak on their behalf. What young person and what parent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister of a young person wants to see an 18 year old heading down...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: As Senators have said, we had quite a detailed discussion on this yesterday but we did not hear the reason the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart. I did not realise it possibly had to do with coffins but Senator Norris has enlightened us. Many Senators, and in particular Senator Mooney, raised the question yesterday of the extraordinary cost of some funerals in the Dublin region. Senator...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: We are talking about difficult choices. As I said yesterday, this measure will result in departmental savings in expenditure of approximately €22 million but there will also be further savings because there was an additional scheme, a small scheme, which required a certain amount of administration. Therefore, there will be administrative savings and staff savings, which we are...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: That was an earlier discussion.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: I have consulted our legal experts and I would like to confirm to Senator Norris that the definition of an adopting parent under section 60 of the Act does include a single man. Obviously the primary references are to women, because it is a maternity for adoptive parents. However, the section specifies that this includes a man who is a single parent who is adopting.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: An adopting parent for adoptive benefit includes - this would be in the definition sections and in the arrangements in respect of the Act - a man in whose care a child is placed for adoption, including a foreign adoption, where the woman in whose care the child has been, or is to be placed, has died, or a man in whose sole care a child has been placed for adoption. That is the single male to...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: In response to Senator Thomas Byrne - I seem to recall he was not here for the discussion on the previous section - we have had very difficult decisions to make in regard to the social welfare budget. My Department's allocation stands at around the €20 billion mark, which is the highest spend of any Department. In 2005 - just as the boom was getting boomier, as a former Taoiseach...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: When Senator Thomas Byrne was in the other House and in committees, I recall that he was a great defender of everything to do with the banks that ruined this country.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: The point I am making is that spending on maternity payments rose from €132 million at the beginning of the boom to €303 million in 2012. This was achieved in the teeth of the most difficult economic situation this country has ever faced, brought about by the collapse of the banks. Senator Byrne's party was very much closely involved in that terribly unfortunate collapse. I...
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: Given the Senator's general contributions in the Dáil in strong support of the former Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan,-----
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: -----he would surely concede that-----
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: I know that. I remember the Senator supporting the late Minister and everything he did.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: The bank guarantee was the wrong decision and cost the country an awful lot of money. Senator Byrne might have made that choice in good faith-----
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: I did not support it.
- Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)
Joan Burton: Senator David Norris asked a very important question which I am happy to answer. Adoptive benefit is a very small scheme simply because the number of children adopted in this country is very small. It is a weekly payment made to an adopting employed or self-employed mother or single male who adopts a child and who meets the PRSI condition. That is set out in the primary legislation. I...