Results 5,881-5,900 of 8,235 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: What I am asking is that there would be a report within three months.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We then do not expect to have clarity within three months. Let us be clear about what is being asked for. I am asking for estimates of a number of potential costs, including the cost of a 30-year scheme, and the impact on individuals and a comparison of the likely difference between a 30-year contribution scheme and a 40-year contribution scheme in terms of weekly income levels for those...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My policy concerns policy, not legislation.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will not press the amendment but I would say that I do not think there is much assurance in what the Minister said.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 32:In page 14, after line 7, to insert the following: "10. The Minister shall, within three months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report on:(a) policy options around the extension of jobseeker’s transitional payment to include one parent families with a child up to eighteen years of age; and (b) policy options...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Do the millions referred to by the Minister relate to an increased level of income disregard? I am curious where the millions come from. Do the millions relate to working lone parents with 15, 16 and 17 year old children accessing a higher level of income disregard?

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I disagree with the Minister. I know we simply disagree. I do not believe it is a measure that encourages lone parents into education. Encouraging lone parents into education is something we have supported but is a separate issue. What the Minister is talking about is the income disregard. A lone parent who is managing to work and has a child is entitled to an income disregard of...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will press it.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is my hope that if a report was prepared it may be available to a future Government to implement such a policy.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Lone parents have waited a very long time for substantial action.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Yes.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Vótáil.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In fairness, we had not moved on.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I said I was pressing the amendment.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We have not actually moved on to amendment No. 33.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would say to the Chair that I had indicated my intention to press the amendment.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not seeking to press amendments for the sake of it. There are certain amendments that I believe are of real significance. This is the first vótáil I have sought to call on any of the amendments. We are on amendment No. 33 and I have had 22 amendments which I have either withdrawn or subjected to a voice vote. This is the first one on which I have called a vote. I put it to...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It may have been a presumption and, therefore, the speed of moving on may have been perhaps faster than it should have been.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2019: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am not interested in pressing an amendment solely for the sake of doing so. There are very few on which I would do so. I am just noting it.