Results 18,101-18,120 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Official Languages Act 2003 Compliance (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to providing a quality service in both Irish and English and to implementing the requirements of the Official Languages Act. To achieve these aims a range of measures have been put in place including responding to correspondence in the official language in which it is written and publishing certain documents simultaneously in both official languages. Significant...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 347 to 377, inclusive, together. With regard to the information requested by the Deputy, a county level breakdown of Social Welfare recipients is collated by my Department annually for inclusion in the Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services report which is laid before the Dáil when published and copies lodged in the Oireachtas library....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Legislative Process (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: A number of provisions of the Civil Registration Act 2004, together with a number of amendments to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 and the Pensions Act 1990, have still to be commenced. Details of these provisions and their current status are set out in the tables. Uncommenced Provisions of Enactments for which the Minister for Social Protection has responsibility Amendments to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 18 July 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 to an...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: EU Directives (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: My Department is currently involved in issues relating to the transposition of two EU directives; 2010/41/EU on the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and Article 8 of Directive 2008/94/EC on the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer. The provisions of the first mentioned require, amongst...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Recruitment (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the rate of turnover of Medical Assessors employed in the Department of Social Protection during the period 1 January 2009 up to and inclusive of 30 September 2013 is set out in the tabular statement. YEAR Number of MA's employed on the 01/Jan each year (including 1 Chief Medical Adviser  & 1 Deputy Chief Medical...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: International Agreements (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The current bilateral Social Security Agreement between Ireland and the United Kingdom is in force since 1 October 2007. In practice, the agreement applies to relations with the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man as these are not covered by the EU Regulations coordinating social security systems. The main purpose of the bilateral agreement is to protect the social welfare rights of people...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 31 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 Welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (1 Oct 2013)

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 over 82,500 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €403 million...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (1 Oct 2013)

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 hold an oral hearing in this case on 3 October 2013. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Issues (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure on the jobseeker’s schemes of €3.66 billion in 2013. It is a fundamental qualifying condition of both schemes that a person must be fully...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Insurance Issues (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The State pension is a very valuable asset and it is important, that those who receive it have made a significant contribution towards it during a working life as the State needs to ensure that it can continue to sustain pension payments in the future. The average contributions test is used in calculating pension entitlement and has been in existence since 1961 when contributory pensions...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 29 August 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 to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 4 September 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: Invalidity Pension Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 13 May 2013 who required further evidence from the Department in order to determine the appeal. This evidence was received from the Department on 6 September 2013 and the file has been referred back to the Appeals Officer who will make a summary decision on the appeal...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Pension (Contributory) Eligibility (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The State pension is a very valuable asset and it is important, with increases in the numbers of older people and increased longevity, that those who receive it have made a significant contribution towards it during a working life, as the State needs to ensure that it can continue to sustain pension payments in the future. People need to participate in the workforce for longer and need to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Eligibility (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: On the spectrum of supports for the unemployed, Community Employment (CE) would be considered to be for those at more serious disadvantage than those capable of availing of a JobBridge internship. Moving from JobBridge (designed for short-term unemployed, job ready persons) to CE (designed for long-term unemployed, not job ready) is not considered a suitable or valid progression option for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Issues (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The social security rights of people living and working in the EU and EEA are governed by EU regulations 883/2004 which co-ordinate social security systems and are designed to ensure that people are not disadvantaged by moving within the EU to take up work. As a Member State of the European Union, Ireland is bound to apply these regulations in accordance with the objective of the EC Treaty...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 07th August 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: Labour Activation Projects (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Pathways to Work sets out the Government's policy on labour market activation to address the employment crisis. In line with these commitments, those long-term on the live register are the focus of interventions across Government Departments and agencies. JobsPlus was launched on 8th July 2013. This is a new simpler incentive that replaced two schemes -Employer Job PRSI Incentive Scheme...