Results 19,221-19,240 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: On a point of information, that is exactly what the group engagements are about; people come back to the Department to thank it because they did not appreciate the full range of supports available. We are constantly thanked. Maybe the Deputy is not, but we are.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The people who have been involved in a sanctions regime absolutely failed to engage and there is no response from them. They must have some accountability for the public income and support they are receiving and take part in the activation process. As Deputy Catherine Murphy said, the majority of people are anxious to engage. Those who do not are a small group of people but, if they fail to...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. 13:In page 17, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following: “Jobseeker's benefit -- refusal or failure to engage with activation measures 12. (1) Section 62(5) of the Principal Act is amended in paragraph (a) (amended by section 5 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2009)--(a) in subparagraph (ii) by substituting "available for employment, and" for...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the amendment is to take into account the fact that people are parenting on their own by relaxing the requirement, in regard to jobseeker's payments, that the claimant be genuinely seeking work to take into account the fact that people have child care commitments and to allow them to satisfy that commitment. I do not make any apology for insisting that the system, not just for...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: We have already changed the law relating to the changes that have been put into law. Based on the discussions we have had and the availability of child care, we are now making transitional arrangements. If one were to abandon everything, one would be returning to the old idea that lone parents would be left passive.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: It is an extremely positive measure to involve lone parents in the full range of activation possibilities that are available for them. Under the Deputy's amendment, as I understand it, we would drop the transition arrangements which we are putting forward. As the Deputy said, he wants everything put on ice. I do not believe that putting things on ice is the correct way. I understand that...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I am not sure the amendments proposed by Deputies Ó Snodaigh and O'Dea would achieve what they may have in mind. As worded, the amendments would delete or defer the transitional arrangements I have introduced to mitigate the effects of the recent changes and to make the system more positive. That would be an adverse result for recipients.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I accept that. I do not know if Deputy O'Dea has had an opportunity to consider. On the general argument, while I accept that the Deputies who have spoken have the interests of lone parents at heart, we must ask ourselves a couple of honest questions as a society. We have had a system in which the social welfare approach to lone parents has been very passive. Someone who went onto...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I thank the Deputies who have welcomed the sorting out of this difficulty finally for a group of people who are very important in Irish society. About 2,000 people are employed as retained firefighters. It is estimated that approximately 800 part-time firefighters are also in receipt of a jobseeker's payment. I am very grateful to a number of Deputies who approached me about specific cases...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: Within a month or two. As the Deputy knows, we started the scheme last year so it is building up, with some 2,000 people now on it. We have been looking closely at how it has operated in practice.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the measure provided for in this section of the Bill is to apply PRSI to the income of modified rate employees that is earned as self-employed income, but without providing for additional entitlements to social welfare benefits. This restriction on entitlement is necessary to ensure no additional costs accrue to the Social Insurance Fund. I understand why people are...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: The Deputy indicated a case, which, from the timing he gave, started during the time of the previous Government.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I ask the Deputy to bear with me. We have had the greatest possible expansion in requests for payments of carer's allowance, family income supplement, domiciliary care allowance and particularly disability benefits. In 2009, the Deputy's party, when in government, reduced the illness benefit period to two years and there were good reasons for doing that. However, I ask him to think about...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I do not propose to accept either of these amendments. By its nature and because of its quasi-judicial function the processing of appeals does take time and it reflects the fact that by definition the social welfare appeals process cannot be a quick one. The appeals system involves cases where there is a difference between the views taken by the Department and by the person making the claim...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I have finished what I had to say.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: There are 675 cases in process.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I will get information for the Deputy on a claimant who has moved abroad. It depends on whether it is possible to identify his or her earnings. During 2012, 161 of the cases were referred to the Chief State Solicitor’s office for criminal prosecution. Obviously, these are the ones at the more serious end of the spectrum. In last year’s social welfare Bill I gave powers to...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I advised the Deputies that we were not able to introduce the amendment because we were awaiting clearance from the Office of the Attorney General, where there are great pressures of work. These are complex amendments and difficult to get right. Before I became Minister an overpayment could have been recovered for the princely sum of €2 per week. There has to be balance in our...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I thank both Deputies for their comments. We actually need a reality check in regard to the problem of fraud, mistake and error, as it is described. The figures I have, from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, are for 2011. Those for 2012 are still being examined by the office. In 2011, there were more than 63,000 overpayments, amounting to €92.4 million. Given the...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2013)

Joan Burton: I move amendment No. a1:In page 5, line 19, after “8,” to insert “15,”.Effective debt recovery is a key aspect of my Department's control policy. It creates a climate where people who have been overpaid know they have a responsibility to repay and that my Department will take appropriate steps to obtain recovery. The Comptroller and Auditor General has noted in...