Results 6,621-6,640 of 19,409 for speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Eligibility (2 Apr 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 529. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a couple with savings of €40,000 are means tested for jobseeker's allowance; and if they would be entitled to full payment. [14758/19]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Data (2 Apr 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 534. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person on jobseeker's allowance can continue to pay into a private pension scheme he or she enrolled in while in full-time employment; and if the pension value is regarded as means even though the person has no access to those funds until the pension has matured. [14887/19]

Local Drug and Alcohol Task Forces: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I move amendment No. 2:To insert the following after “as a fait accompli.”: “— reinstate funding for local and regional drug and alcohol task forces to 2008 levels, with a comparative increase in funding to reflect the additional remit of alcohol; and — increase funding for community-based drug projects to allow for wage restoration.”

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: We may have to bring back the former Minister, Deputy Kelly.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I welcome the briefing on these sections in particular and the points the Minister has raised. On passports, the growth in numbers is phenomenal. It is not, however, unexpected in some ways. I do not know where the increased income from these passports is reflected in the figures. Are they cost neutral? I understand that the Minister does not-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: It is not reflected in the figures. There is, obviously, a cost if 860,000 passports are being printed. There is a cost for administration and the machines. I saw that the cost for the increased number of personnel required was reflected. I refer to 230 temporary staff as well as new staff. The other figure might be there but I did not notice it.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Is that over the cost of-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I meant was it over the cost of producing the passports. Sometimes-----

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The Minister, therefore, has a case to look for an extra €60 million from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, because his Department has been contributing.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The Minister will have heard a request from my party and others to open a passport office in Belfast because of the number of passport applications from the Six Counties. A great deal is done online now but there is still a demand for a passport office, in the consular service or elsewhere. I know some of the difficulties people face in emergencies etc. If the Department is making...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: There are also Irish citizens who live abroad but whose families might live in Ireland. They would not necessarily have insurance.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I have no problem with that and, like the Tánaiste, I believe the increase will result in more benefit than cost.

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The point that most passports are issued online is taken, but outside Cork and Dublin there is a lot of the country without any passport office cover in an emergency. A person living at the far end of County Donegal, never mind someone living in Derry or elsewhere in the Six Counties, has a long way to travel to Dublin, especially if it is an emergency. These are the cases with which I have...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: As with the last allocation the funds seem to be staying the same. One of the international organisations to which we contribute is the UN. We seem to be paying in less, although in miniscule amounts. This seems to fly in the face of our commitments in terms of the UN and environmental degradation around the world. Will we expect to have to make larger increases to these international...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Did the Tánaiste say this was under a three-year cycle?

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Is 2019 the middle year or the end year of the cycle?

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: We could see an increase next year. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Subhead D3 deals with promoting Ireland. Given the year we have had with Brexit, not to mention the years to come dealing with the same issue, I would encourage greater funding for such programmes. I have found that investment in promoting Ireland abroad pays huge dividends, even if it does not come back directly to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Our international standing is...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I was part of a parliamentary delegation visiting Washington recently. We took the embassy staff away from other work they could have been doing and we appreciate the huge level of work the staff in embassies and consulates do. We manage to reach a lot further than our size would warrant and we should not be shy of providing the additional money to help staff do their job. There is a need...

Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 27 - International Co-operation (Revised)
Vote 28 - Foreign Affairs and Trade (Revised) (28 Mar 2019)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: In some ways, this is the good news part of a budget in terms of what we do, even when we cannot afford to do so, to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. It is for this reason we have the reputation around of the world of being a charitable people. The Minister of State will not hear any criticism from me on the issue of untied aid. I am around long enough to remember the...