Results 4,841-4,860 of 12,637 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Order of Business (12 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I would point out to the Taoiseach that we have passed the second anniversary of the Taoiseach's commitment to introduce the consumer and competition Bill. He told me it would be introduced "this session". Several sessions have come and gone. Does the Taoiseach believe he will bring it forward in this session?

Gateway Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (11 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion, which we will be supporting. It mainly concerns the gateway scheme, which everyone knows is a very different scheme from the community employment scheme. While I am not trying to be partisan or unduly critical, I never thought I would see the day when a Government, one third of which is made up of Labour Party members and which...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (11 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 109. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding funding for a second level school in the Raheen/Dooradoyle area of Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11520/14]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Projects (11 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 254. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason her Department invited unemployed persons to a conference in Liffey Valley and then cancelled the event; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11923/14]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Charges (11 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 557. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider abolishing the €100 emergency department charge for families-next of kin who are grieving following the death of a loved one in road traffic accidents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12026/14]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pensions Reform: Discussion (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I thank everybody for their submissions. We are not being told anything that is not already in the public domain but the witnesses made their presentations well and succinctly. I note what Mr. Whelan said about defined contribution schemes, and I agree with him. I have long suspected that the defined contribution schemes are not a panacea. I also agree with him that the way liabilities...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Pensions Reform: Discussion (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: How was that calculated and over what period is it based?

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: Blather.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: We are feeling neglected.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: Delighted.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: The Taoiseach will recall that he promised nothing less than a constitutional revolution. Two weeks ago I asked him about the following commitment in the programme for Government: "We will also deal with the related problem of legislation being shunted through at high speed and will ensure that Dáil standing orders provide a minimum of two weeks between each stage of a Bill". When I...

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: It was €3 billion less than the Taoiseach would have paid.

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: The report was submitted to the Government in May of last year. It is now approaching its first birthday and the Government is still reflecting. The recommendation was specific, that change be made to provide that at least those who take the risk to go into business for themselves and who become incapacitated as a result of developing a long-term illness should be brought into the social...

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I asked whether it could be done on a voluntary basis.

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I do not agree with the notion that a voluntary system would not work. Voluntary systems have been put in place in other countries and they are demonstrably working. I refer the Minister to the section of the report where the group discusses the attitude of some social welfare officials to the self-employed when they claim jobseeker's allowance. Among certain sections of the Department of...

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 7. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the progress made to date to broaden the social insurance system to include the self-employed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10445/14]

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: This issue arises from the fact that a report submitted to the Government in May 2013 recommended certain changes to make more benefits available to the self-employed under the social insurance scheme. Has any progress been made on that?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: An internationally accepted standard regards the poverty line as equivalent to 60% of average income in a society. Anyone below that level is judged not to have sufficient on which to live with a reasonable degree of dignity. The latest available figures which I agree are dated show that at least one in six people - almost 750,000 people - was living on an income below that level, or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: The medical card has been valued at approximately €1,000 a year, which means that a single adult on the ordinary rate of social welfare is just on the poverty line. Does it not strike the Minister as curious that of the member states of the European Union, apart from Ireland, the last to publish this statistic did so last October, while we are still waiting? I take her point that the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I have been reading the detailed information collated by the CSO, including numbers of animals. Does the Minister think it is reasonable that we know the number of goats in County Kerry in 2012, whereas we do not have information on the number of people who were living below the poverty line in Ireland in 2012?