Results 221-240 of 3,697 for speaker:Lynn Ruane

Committee on Drugs Use: Decriminalisation, Depenalisation, Diversion and Legalisation of Drugs: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: I thank the two contributors for their presentations. There is a lot to think about. On first listen, people might feel frightened or cautious but it should be taken as an opportunity to look at how to undertake decriminalisation, rather than reasons for not doing it. It is about what remits and regulations should and what service provision needs to coincide with that. It is interesting...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: I move amendment No. 11: In page 20, line 35, to delete “any” and substitute “a”. This is a simple amendment that seeks to address the concerns we have in regard to the insertion of section 68KG and section 68KH into the principal Act. Section 68KG allows for recipients of jobseeker’s pay-related benefit to be cut or even for them to be disqualified if...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: When we seek to scrutinise policy, none of us is ever speaking about staff. When there is criticism of a policy, it is not about a lack of appreciation for staff. For the Minister then to say she knows her staff and how humane they are personalises the points someone else is making. It is as if they are being personal about employees when that is obviously not the case. It is not an...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: I fully understand and accept the intention but the experience is prescribed. It states that if you do not attend or participate in the scheme, you will potentially lose the benefit. Therefore, it is not of your own free will or off your own bat. The legislation actually implies that if you do not engage, you could lose your payment. That is a really big issue because it forces people...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: To be very clear, nobody is saying anything about people engaging or looking for work. I do not know whether the Minister is responding purposefully to confuse what we are saying or whether she does not actually understand what we are saying the legislation states. The legislation as it stands is not above scrutiny.The legislation states that it is if you do not engage with the prescribed...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: Everything has changed.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: It does not matter. It existed previously but there are issues with it there too. Nobody should do work experience for whatever minimum or maximum rate of social welfare they are on. Work experience should not factor as an option to receive social welfare. If you are doing work experience in a factory, an office, Google or wherever, you should be doing it for the same rate of pay or...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: Legislation states that is the case.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: The Minister is not going to answer the question directly so I will move on to the next amendment.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: I asked the Minister a direct question about if people will have to work, not whether there has been a shift or not.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: I did not ask whether this has been a shift from other policies. Whether it exists in previous policies or this policy, it is wrong that people are expected to engage in work experience for the prescribed amount of pay-related benefit. If someone decides it is part of their care plan with social welfare, are they expected to potentially engage in work experience for whatever number of hours...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: Is it the case-----

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: Are you expected to work for your benefit?

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: Not necessarily.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: It is not the case.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: I move amendment No. 12: In page 20, line 38, to delete “which is prescribed for the purposes of this section”. This amendment speaks to the concerns we have outlined with regard to the previous amendment and the proposed new sections 68KG and 68KH. The purpose of this section is to direct recipients of pay-related benefit towards schemes or programmes of employment or work...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: No, that is not what I said.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: That is not what I said.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: I said people without a profession.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Lynn Ruane: It is very important to say that we have a history, as has been said by Senator Higgins, with the jobseeker's transitional payment, which completely put women and mothers in a vulnerable position. When they were transferred from the one-parent family payment to the jobseeker's transitional payment, they were expected to go to work when their child reached a certain age, not the age of 18,...