Results 18,601-18,620 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: We could run a seminar for the committee and Oireachtas Members on the range of schemes and supports the Department has for young people. The new JobsPlus is an attractive scheme and I hope there will be good take-up of it by employers. Members will be ambassadors for the scheme and help promote it to get more people back to work. It will help to reinstate the objective of near full employment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Can I clarify that we have provided for it? Once one is on jobseeker's benefit at the age of 65, in law one's entitlement continues until 66. Therefore, the nine-month duration does not apply to somebody of 65. I hope that is helpful.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: That will be in 2021.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: If the economy has recovered by then-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The Chairman made a really important point on a phenomenon that happens all the time. Every public representative who is dealing with applicants should remind them how important it is to sign for credits if they have an entitlement to a credit. I know exactly what the Deputy is talking about. I have met so many women who could have signed for credits, including people who became...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: This arose when the Secretary General and deputy secretary were here and before the Committee of Public Accounts. We have taken into the Department 1,700 new employees and we are putting considerable emphasis, this year and next, on the training of staff, who are now working on general social welfare issues in respect of the various schemes of the Department. With regard to credits...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: We are putting a lot of emphasis this year and will be putting a lot of emphasis next year on training the new staff. Many former community welfare officers are expert at interviewing people because of the nature of their previous work, but many of the new staff are working particularly on the Intreo and activation programmes. We are putting a lot of emphasis on training. We have revamped...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: I know Senator Moloney is very knowledgeable about this. The non-contributory pension is at the same level as the contributory pension. For any of the women about whom the Senator is talking, such as a widow who is likely to be on her own, the level is the same. If an individual is highly dependent on social welfare, it is likely that she will qualify for the non-contributory pension.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: In the autumn or towards the end of the year, I will provide a short report on the total numbers. They are significant. The worst cases are where the people concerned had not even made an application but made inquiries, which inquiries became parliamentary questions. I am thankful that these cases are very few and far between but Deputy Butler is correct that the parliamentary questions...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: In our system, the big safety net is that the non-contributory pension is at the same level as the contributory pension. For instance, in the case of a woman on her own who had no income other than the State contributory pension and it was a reduced amount, she would be well advised to apply for the non-contributory pension because that would bring her up to the same level as that of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: First, to clarify, people who are 65 and who are going onto the jobseeker's register for a year will get a payment for 12 months. I wish to be clear in this regard.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Jobseeker's allowance for the 12 months.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: I reassure members they will be covered for the 12 months.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Senator Moloney has made an excellent suggestion and the Department is giving it active consideration in the context of the budget. Second, there is an implicit equality issue in the point made by the Senator, with which I agree, that is, if the pension age is now going to be 66, there is a strong argument for justice and equality to amend the legislation to provide the legal equality...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: While it is not the responsibility of my Department, I will strongly encourage that. Moreover, I expect most employers also would be positive in this regard. Again, we are in the middle of a lot of social change and there are a great number of people in their 60s who wish to remain working to the age of 66 or 70. On the other hand, this issue was discussed at the forum with all the 37...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: While I will get a more detailed answer for the joint committee, it is an equality issue in part. It pertains to the age at which someone must retire and to me, it would make a sense to align the pension age and the retirement age. Thereafter, of course, it also is up to individual places of employment and the contracts they have with employees. In respect of self-employed people to whom...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Regarding Deputy Butler's general point which we have discussed a number of times previously, I thank him for acknowledging that, contrary to popular myth, many people who are self-employed get access to social welfare. Almost all the 100,000 people who lost their jobs, particularly as a consequence of the collapse of the construction industry, ended up being self-employed in one way or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: We have a smaller payment now for people with fewer than 48 PRSI contributions. The saving in 2012 would have been about €5.5 million and €8.2 million in 2013. Some of these arrangements were foreshadowed in 1997. Some of them came into force around 2002, and more came into force last year and the year before that. While the amounts involved are small, they build up very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Cork County Council and Cork City Council have committed to take on 60 people each on the first stage of the Jobpath. We have had very good co-operation from them. In terms of Cork city and county, approximately 6,000 people are participating in a variety of schemes supported by my Department, including community employment, in which there are a few thousand participants. More than 2,000...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pre-Budget Consultation Process: Discussion with Minister for Social Protection (10 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: In the context of his overall questions, the Deputy is correct. The 2014 expenditure ceiling - this is something of a technical public accounting mechanism - for my Department, as included in the papers published by the Department of Finance, will be €610 million lower than it is this year. In Government accounting one has revenue which is money coming in and expenditure which is the...