Results 24,521-24,540 of 26,795 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Bill 2011: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. My party supported this Bill in the Dáil and will support it in the Seanad. Previous speakers noted we had a lax culture of enforcement and supervision, and cronyism in the banking sector, in this State for far too long. This led to the collapse of the banking system and, conversely, the collapse of our economy and the consequences that...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: Oireachtas Members from all parties and none will meet today to again discuss the issue of the European Court of Justice ruling in respect of the former Waterford Crystal workers. The case was taken by former workers of Waterford Crystal to the High Court and the High Court sought advice from the European Court of Justice in respect of the EU 2008 Insolvency Fund. The EU Court of Justice...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee Report (19 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, to the House. He might be surprised at the motion I have tabled today, which relates to County Cork rather than my own county of Waterford. I have received several petitions from people in the area about the recent report of the local electoral area boundary committee, which outlines the proposed new electoral areas for city and county councils....

Seanad: Public Health (Availability of Defibrillators) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members] (19 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commend Senator Quinn on introducing practical legislation. He has had a good run in recent weeks, bearing in mind his Bill that passed through the Dáil and the Seanad Bill that progressed through Second Stage. The latter Bill, or a similar one, was introduced in the Dáil by some Independent Members. The Bill before us is important...

Seanad: Health (Amendment) Bill 2013: Second Stage (19 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, to the House. We have had several debates on the health service with her over the course of the last number of years. Unfortunately, the Minister for Health has not given of his time to take Second Stage debates on Bills as much as we would like. I cannot support the Bill. Frankly, if the Minister of State and her Labour Party colleagues were...

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

David Cullinane: It is important to note that the vast majority of people who are in receipt of social welfare are genuine claimants. My information, which the Minister will undoubtedly correct if it is inaccurate, is that only 3.4% of total welfare expenditure is accounted for by either error or fraud, with one third of that percentage relating specifically to fraud and the remainder to errors made by...

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

David Cullinane: I move amendment No. 6: In page 15, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following:"(4) Retained firefighters who have previously applied for a jobseeker's payment before the enactment of this Bill and have not had their claim approved shall be assessed on their current application."I understand that the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance amendment has been ruled out of order as...

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

David Cullinane: I welcome the change which has been made. I have dealt with many retained firefighters in County Waterford who have found themselves in this situation. Due to an anomaly in the system, if a firefighter applied for a social welfare payment and the deciding officer determined that he or she was not available for work because of the rule requiring firefighters to live in close proximity to a...

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

David Cullinane: I accept the logic behind much of what the Minister has said. I welcome the roll-out of the Intreo offices but I hope that the south east and Waterford will get one soon.

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

David Cullinane: I am always invited.

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

David Cullinane: I am sure, in line with the traditions of the Labour Party, that the Minister would like people to be inside or outside of the office making their feelings known. The rolling out of Intreo offices has been a very good idea and I welcome the improved service. At present when people attend their social welfare office they will encounter long queues, a lack of privacy, an inability to get...

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

David Cullinane: -----that are very general in nature and do not properly support the application. The CWOs, social welfare officers, appeals officers and medical assessors seem to prefer consultant reports and place more value on them. That makes sense but it is more difficult for people to get a letter from a consultant. The problem also relates to the recruitment embargo and staffing issues. A valid...

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

David Cullinane: I wish to clarify something. I do not expect the Minister to reply. The point I was making was about people being forced to work. I agree with her about choice and if people want to work longer, I fully support their right to do so. I was talking about a situation where the pension age has been changed to 66 and could increase, thereby forcing people to work longer. When people have jobs...

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

David Cullinane: I move amendment No. 3: In page 7, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: "Social Welfare Appeals 6. The Social Welfare Appeals Office shall ensure that all appeals are processed and responded to within 21 days of receipt of the application to appeal a decision.".I am sure the Minister will agree that the staff in the social welfare appeals offices do a very good job. I would...

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

David Cullinane: I thank the Minister for her helpful response. On the first issue she raised, we will take it up with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. There might be an appropriate way to raise it in legislation he will bring before the House on other issues. On the issue of pensions and jobseeker's benefit, my difficulty is in regard to low paid workers, who tend to be blue collar workers...

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

David Cullinane: I would like to speak briefly to this section. I know the amendments were ruled out of order. I will outline, in the context of this section, the broad thrust of the reasons we tabled these amendments. One of the issues relates to what happens when a person who has been dismissed by an employer takes a case to the appropriate employment rights body, under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Agriculture Sector: Discussion (18 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I apologise to the visitors as we probably tried to cram too much into one day and, unfortunately, we are victims of that. As the Vice Chairman said, we have the presentations and they will be factored into our report. I do not know if the visitors heard the session with the Kilkenny county manager. The whole area of agriculture and Food Harvest 2020 was raised. The visitors have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Third Level Sector: Discussion with Waterford IT and IT Carlow (18 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I thank the witnesses who have travelled from Waterford and Carlow. The common thread that has emerged from the presentations is the need for an integrated strategy from national to local level across a number of different areas. Dr. Donnelly was strong during the consultations in Waterford on the need for an integrated economic development strategy for the south east, which would examine...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: South-East Economic Development Strategy Report: Discussion (18 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I will be as brief as I can, to be helpful. I welcome the witnesses and thank them for coming here today. I met some of them already as part of the consultation process and there are some I have not met. Mr. Michael Walsh clearly set out the challenges the south east faces. Any of the research we carried out into examining the south east economically, and the Forfás report was the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Hospital Waiting Lists (13 Jun 2013)

David Cullinane: I thank the Minister for his response. I share his view that hospital management has responded impressively. He has acknowledged that the figures for opthalmology, orthopaedics and ENT are very high. I welcome the announcement of the new and replacement consultant posts. If the new posts do not allow the hospital to reduce its waiting times and numbers, is the Minister in a position to...