Results 19,041-19,060 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Topical Issue Debate (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: Since March 2011 to date, approximately 1000 Topical Debates were selected for answer by the Ceann Comhairle across all Government Departments. 358 Topical Debates have been tabled to this Department. Of those Topical Debates, 80 were selected for answer by the Ceann Comhairle and I took 22 debates in the Dáil. There is no Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection. As a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (25 Jun 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 16th May 2013, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Applications (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: Invalidity Pension is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the contribution conditions.The person in question had their case examined by a medical assessor of the department who expressed the opinion that they were not permanently incapable of work. Accordingly, their Invalidity Pension application was refused. They were...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Ministerial Transport (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: On taking office, this Government reformed the transport arrangement for Ministers which has radically reduced the cost of travel. The Government decision involved confining the use of State cars from 1 May 2011 to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence. As a result, the average cost of providing transport has been reduced by 65% - from an average cost...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The information requested by Deputy Collins is provided in a following, together with details for the years 2009 and 2010. Date Event Cost € 30.01.2009 Opening of new Social Welfare Office in Ballymun 858.98 29.10.2009 Bilateral Social Security Agreement with Japan 524.58 30.10.2009 Opening of Social Welfare Office in Kings Inn's Street, Dublin 502.40 2009 Total 1,885.96...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection has not been involved with any newspaper supplements during the specified years.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: In order to help customers in their dealings with the Department, translation services are provided to and from all languages, on request. This includes the provision of translation services to and from Irish in line with the requirements of the Official Languages Act, 2003. Overall, translations from more than 50 languages were provided by the Department last year. The majority of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Eligibility (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The entitlement to social protection payments of people who their own business, as referred to by the Deputy, depends on whether the individual pays PRSI as an employee or self-employed. In general a person who owns their own business is classified, for PRSI purposes, as self-employed. Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which entitles them to access...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Appeals (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: As a result of the reforms to the one-parent family payment (OFP) scheme, once an OFP recipient's youngest child reaches the relevant threshold age, they will no longer be entitled to the OFP payment. Should they still have an income support need, they will be required to apply for another social welfare income support payment from my Department. In order to qualify for another social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 14 December 2012. This application was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors who considered that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 25 February 2013 advising of the decision. The person concerned subsequently lodged an appeal against this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (25 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The Labour Court recommended in July 2008 (LCR19293) that an agreed pension scheme should be introduced for Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors, and that such a scheme should be adequately funded by FÁS. Notwithstanding the positions of the Department (who now has responsibility for CE) in rejecting that liability for these costs to be met from public...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: Yes. The registration process is called Safe. With regard to older people and the query raised by Senator Moloney, we are making arrangements for older people. We hope to have most of the cards rolled out by the end of next year. Our target to the end of this year is 600,000 cards and we are well on target to achieve that or even go beyond it. When the Safe registration process is...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: Therefore, we check the photograph against the database and if somebody appears to be registered with the service elsewhere, for example in Tallaght, but also pops up in Carrick-on-Shannon, Killarney or elsewhere, the message will be transmitted that this appears to be the same person, giving rise to a query. Staff in social welfare offices have told me that sometimes when people are invited...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I assure the Senator that there is no provision for charging individuals for the furnishing, replacement or renewal of a public services card. We have rolled out more than 250,000 of the cards thus far, mainly to new applications and in the jobseeker's area in particular, the intention being to roll out the scheme to other social welfare clients in due course. We are entering into an...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: We have been working with the various transport companies to devise a series of on-the-spot checks. We have a facility whereby a travel card which seems to be fraudulent - some of the ones I have seen are merely cheap photocopies in a plastic wallet - can be checked to verify the authenticity of the number. There has been quite a lot of that type of activity on several of the transport...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: As we know from our experience of the bank guarantee and the range of taxes and changes which flowed from it, there is nothing fixed under the heavens when it comes to social welfare and taxation. There is no provision for the charge to which the Senator has alluded. Moreover, even if such a provision were included in the Bill, it would be open to any future Minister to amend it. In short,...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I thank Senators for their comments. I assure them that I value the arrangements in regard to free travel, as do pensioners. The bottom line is that abuse of the scheme undermines the benefit for everybody. The provisions in this Bill will ultimately protect the integrity of the scheme. As to why a public services card was not introduced before now, I cannot answer. It has been discussed...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: It was talked about for a long period before that. We are now, finally, in the process of implementing it. If we had opted for another system, that would have meant further delays leaving, in a way, the best being the enemy of the good. What we are now rolling out is a data card which has the capacity to hold substantial amounts of data. Therefore, other Departments will be in a position,...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I thank the Senator for raising the issue. The welfare and well-being of professional actors and other creative professionals are important in terms of the status of the arts. In general, if an unemployed person has a particular job such as acting, it is understood initially by the deciding officer that he or she will try to obtain further employment in his or her specific area. However,...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The part of FÁS that has come to the Department of Social Protection is the employment services side. The training side has stayed within the Department of Education and Skills, to which it was transferred by the previous Government. I do not believe we have any connection there. If the Irish Film Board wants to approach my Department with specific proposals, it should do so. On...