Results 26,081-26,100 of 26,857 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: The Minister has provided some clarity and when she comes back, she will probably give us more clarity. The explanatory memorandum, which has been circulated to us by the Department, states that section 3 provides for the abolition of the entitlement to payment of disablement benefit in the case of assessments of loss of faculty amounting to less than 15%. It does not apply to existing...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: That is my understanding. The problem we have is that people pay PRSI, which is a social insurance, so if they are victims of an accident, they can rely on it and can be covered. A number of advocacy organisations have made the point that this potentially could be a slippery slope, or a move towards a more graded scale of disability. While the section here states "amounting to 15%", could...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Something like that. However, people who are somewhat incapacitated need time to recover. That is the reality if they are victims of accidents at work.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Committee Stage (15 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Yes, but the disablement benefit is being cut and they will not be able to avail of it if the loss of faculty is less than 15%. It is 15% now, but can the Minister give us a guarantee that in future budgets, that figure will not become 20%, 30%, or 40%? How is this figure assessed? Does an independent medical doctor assess it? I look forward to the Minister's response.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Jesus Christ, Joe Hill and Thomas Francis Meagher already have been mentioned this morning and I wonder what any of those individuals would make of the cuts in education that have been announced by the Government. Senator Jim D'Arcy stated — I believe him in terms of his passion — that he wishes to see changes in education. Members should consider the changes announced in this budget...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: As I stated, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business in order that the Minister for Education and Skills will come into the House to discuss the impact of these cuts.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Not today.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Employment Action Plan (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister to the House. The matter relates to the south east employment action plan which has been launched by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The action plan was developed in response to serious job losses in Waterford city. In recent months and years there have been some high profile closures such as Waterford Crystal and more recently TalkTalk. Much was...

Seanad: Employment Action Plan (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Does the Minister of State agree that the Government and the Minister need to do three things with regard to the outworkings of this plan? The first is to set a real target for the reduction of the number of people who are unemployed. The figure could be 14%, for example. There should, at least, be a target. There is no target in the document. Second, we need to identify the niche areas...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: "Lifestyle choice."

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: I welcome the Minister to the House. I acknowledge that the Government inherited a mess, difficult decisions needed to be made, budgets needed to be balanced and choices were available. The Minister must accept that her party in opposition opposed four austerity budgets, and rightly so. The Labour Party opposed the budgets because of cuts to child benefit, cuts to the Christmas payment to...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: It was a small adjustment compared with what was promised. The party also opposed previous budgets' cuts to social welfare payments. The Minister referred to a number of items and interesting words, including "pride". She mentioned that this was a momentous achievement for her and, possibly, the Labour Party. However, I do not know of many families who will see what has happened in recent...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: We have lobbied the British Government every day of the week. Senator Ivana Bacik's party does not have a single vote in the North because it will not put up candidates. It does not care about the North, yet she comes in here and attacks Sinn Féin.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Members should join us in the battle to secure fiscal powers in the North.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: The Minister and other Labour Party representatives mentioned Sinn Féin because they are scared politically——

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (13 Dec 2011)

David Cullinane: Sinn Féin is the party which is standing up for working people. We should remember the time when the Labour Party was in opposition and having a go at the previous Minister for Finance. It made a point about previous austerity budgets——