Results 19,381-19,400 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I was very happy to co-author an article in yesterday's edition of The Guardian in which I repeated what I said in my address to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, namely, that Europe must take action to reflate member states' economies and get people back to work. I am a practical person and during my entire time in politics, what I have been interested in is young people. I worked for a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Government and I, as Minister for Social Protection, are committed to reducing and eliminating poverty, as set out in the programme for Government. We are determined to ensure the most vulnerable are enabled to benefit from economic recovery through activation programmes and services and, ultimately, being able to return to work. The existing strategy for addressing poverty is the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy will recall from his time in government, the previous Government abolished the Combat Poverty Agency. The social inclusion division of my Department performs a role similar to that performed by the former agency. I have asked the division, which has great expertise in measuring poverty and examining what constitutes being less well-off, to examine this issue. I am pleased...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I am not sure if the Deputy heard me when I stated that I prioritised the expansion of the school meals programme to ensure children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and in DEIS schools, would secure greater access to the programme. This positive social development is taking place in the context of a difficult budgetary position. As I also indicated, the social inclusion...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Anti-Poverty Strategy (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: A 2012 paper on public policy proposed that there be an official measure of food poverty, which is inextricably linked to issues of finance, education, transport, literacy, culture, planning and retailing. As such, a solution requires a multisectoral approach across all relevant Departments. Food poverty is not an isolated issue that results in poor dietary intake but one aspect of wider...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The advisory group is examining the issue of in-work supports for families with children. Although the group's report is often referred to solely in the context of child benefit, it actually considered all payments made to families with children. The total amount paid in benefits is almost €3 billion, of which child benefit is €2 billion. One of the reasons the group is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support for eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have access to accommodation from any other source. There are approximately 86,000 recipients of rent supplement, of whom approximately 54,000 have been in receipt of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The most recent social welfare legislation amended the Social Welfare Acts to provide for a mandatory capacity in respect of allowing people offered new tenancies or places on the RAS to sign on to the household budgeting system operated through post offices because local authorities want to be assured they will receive rent contributions from tenants. I understand local authorities around...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: We have not had any discussions in this regard. We have already taken on a significant amount of additional work, including community welfare officers from the HSE and employment staff from FÁS, but we have also taken responsibility for driving the pathways to work process, which essentially involves a complete transformation of my Department. People who come to social welfare offices...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: If I understood the Deputy's question, he is looking for a list of all tenders issued by the Department of Social Protection in the past 18 months.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I do not have that information to hand but will certainly request it for the Deputy. As a former Minister, the Deputy is aware that in situations of urgency provisions are made for single tenders. Given that few issues are more urgent than assisting people in trouble with their mortgages and getting information to them, that was the context in which the Citizens Information Board, CIB, was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The family income supplement, or FIS payment, is designed to provide income for employees on low earnings who have families. The FIS payment preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she was unemployed and claiming other social welfare payments. Some people may believe that taking up employment...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: My view, which I have given to the Deputy on a number of occasions, is that people are always better off in work. They may start back on a relatively low income but very often, having worked for a period, they get increases. It is better for those people and their families that they should work. The Deputy is right to state that the number of people interested in family income supplement...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the information campaign undertaken by the Citizens Information Board, CIB, regarding the Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service. This service offers a dedicated helpline, website and financial advice which is available to borrowers from independent accountants, the cost of which is being borne by the lenders via the Irish Banking...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The CIB is an independent agency and the chief executive officer is the Accounting Officer for the board and is responsible for ensuring all public moneys are expended in a proper manner. The CIB was requested to do this by the interdepartmental group, the group working on mortgages, because of the desire to get people who are indebted with mortgage debt to be in contact with their lenders,...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Payments (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure of €1,115 million in 2013 on the disability allowance scheme, an increase of €29 million (2.7%) over 2012. There were almost 102,400 recipients of disability allowance at the end of March. However, the Government was able to reduce the net savings required in Budget 2013 to €390 million, €150...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Work Placement Programme (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Government, as part of the Budget package for 2013, announced a number of initiatives focused on providing work opportunities for jobseekers, including the provision of 10,000 additional work placements across a number of schemes. The additional placements on community employment, Tús and JobBridge have already been rolled-out and are in the process of being filled by the sponsoring...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Expenditure (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 57 together. There are currently approximately 86,000 recipients of rent supplement for which the Government has provided over €403 million for 2013 and €423 million in 2012. Expenditure on the scheme up to end April 2013 is approximately €127 million. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Eligibility (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 51 together. The family income supplement or FIS payment is designed to provide income for employees on low earnings with families. The FIS payment preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he/she was unemployed and claiming other social welfare payments. I am...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Code Review (29 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Question Nos. 15 & 39 together. As part of the forthcoming Social Welfare and Pensions Bill, 2013, I am introducing reforms to the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA) scheme to ease the transition of former recipients of the one-parent family payment (OFP) scheme with young children to the JA scheme. These reforms will create a transitional arrangement specifically...