Results 17,481-17,500 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Register of Solemnisers (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The Civil Registration Act 2004, as amended by the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2012, outlines the categories of bodies and organisations, including secular bodies,that may apply for registration of persons on the Register of Solemnisers. Section 45A of the Act states that a secular body must be in existence for at least five years, be an organised group of people who have secular,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 416 and 417 together. Family income supplement (FIS) is an in-work cash support for employees with families on low earnings. It tackles in-work poverty and provides an incentive to employment as opposed to welfare dependency. The estimated expenditure on FIS for 2013 is expected to be about €229 million in respect of some 42,000 families. An...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Budget 2014 (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 418, 435 to 437, inclusive, 442 and 443 together. As part of the Budget package this year changes have been made to the job seekers scheme for job seekers under 26 years of age. These changes are expected to deliver estimated savings of approximately €32 million in 2014 or €72m in a full year. It is my intention to incentivise young...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Budget 2014 (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: There are currently in excess of 395,000 customers eligible for the telephone allowance with a total estimated cost in 2013 of €48 million. The cost of the telephone allowance scheme has risen each year and the number of eligible customers has increased very significantly. In 2007 there were some 316,000 people receiving the Telephone Allowance compared to almost 396,000 at the end of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Household Benefits Scheme (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 421, 499, 504 and 519 together. The overall concern of the Government in this and previous budgets has been to protect the primary weekly social welfare rates. Maintaining the rate of the State pension and other core payments is critical in relation to protecting people from poverty. To allow us to protect these core payments, we have had to look very...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: School Meals Programme (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services for disadvantaged children through two schemes. The first is the statutory urban school meals scheme, operated by local authorities and part-financed by the Department. The second is the school meals local projects schemes through which funding is provided directly to participating schools and local and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that there is no record of a Disablement Benefit appeal having been received from the person concerned. However a Disability Allowance appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 30th September 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Appeals (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 22nd October 2013. 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 referred...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Issues (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence including that adduced at the oral hearing, decided to disallow the appeal of the person concerned. Under Social Welfare legislation, the decision of an Appeals Officer is final and conclusive and may only be reviewed in the light of additional evidence or new...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobBridge Internship Scheme Eligibility (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 427, 453, 471 and 479 together. Farm Assist is not one of the qualifying payments for JobBridge. Individuals do not need to be available for work to be in receipt of Farm Assist. Jobbridge participants must be available to undertake at least thirty hours work per week. As at 30th October, 2013, 6,384 individuals aged under 25 years have voluntarily...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobBridge Programme (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 428, 449, 470 and 578 together. JobBridge is targeted at those in receipt of certain Social Welfare payments and those signing for credits for at least 3 months (78 days) out of the previous 6 months. Persons who do not satisfy these criteria are not eligible to participate in the scheme. A jobseeker participating on a JobBridge internship will receive...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I can confirm that an application for disability allowance (DA) was received from the person concerned on 12 February 2013. Following an appeal, the application was approved on medical grounds. The application was subsequently referred to a social welfare investigator (SWI) for a means investigation. A decision on the person’s entitlement to disability allowance will be made on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Data (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: Budget 2014 has no implications for participants on the Community Employment programme. The budgeted places will remain at 25,300 in 2014. The Local Training Initiative programme and Community Training Centres come under the remit of the Department of Education.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 432, 433, 438 and 468 together. In order to develop and implement a plan to give effect to the EU recommendation for a Youth Guarantee in Ireland, the Department of Social Protection has set up an interdepartmental Youth Guarantee Implementation Group with officials and programme managers from the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Jobs...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Projects (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection provides labour activation places on a number of programmes. Figures for participation on the main such programmes for the end of each month from September 2013 to September 2012 are contained in the following Table 1. The figures for October 2013 are not yet available. The concept of vacant places on a monthly basis is not meaningful in the context of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Respite Care Grant Data (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The Respite Care Grant is an annual payment made to carer’s by the Department of Social Protection. The grant is paid automatically to all recipients of carer's allowance and half rate carer's allowance who are in payment on the first Thursday of June each year. Every claim which is in payment on this date automatically gets the respite care grant payment. The only exception to this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Live Register Data (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: The information in relation to supplementary payments pending jobseekers allowance and jobseekers benefit being paid at each Social Welfare Local Office is not ordinarily maintained within my Department. The information requested by the Deputy in relation to persons under 26 on the Live Register where available is listed in the following tabular statement. The Live Register count is...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Benefit Payments (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 444 to 447, inclusive, together. The total number of young persons under 25 years of age in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit at the end of September 2013 was 3,153. The total number of young persons aged 25 years of age in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit at the end of September 2013 was 1,149. A detailed breakdown of this number by age and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Work Placement Programme (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 448 and 454 together. The current minimum rate of payment on Tús and other DSP work placement programmes is €208 per week. This applies regardless of the age of the participant. Given the focus the Government has placed on expanding interventions in support of young unemployed people, I have indicated that a number of measures will be developed...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Eligibility (5 Nov 2013)

Joan Burton: A €100 per week rate of jobseeker’s allowance was introduced for claimants aged 18 and 19 with effect from end-April 2009. This new rate did not apply to certain categories of claimant including: - all claimants with a qualified child; - all claimants aged 18 and 19 who were already in receipt of or entitled to a maximum weekly rate of €196 per week prior to the...