Results 12,361-12,380 of 19,755 for speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: None of the above. It is just incompetence.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The State should be engaging------

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I move amendment No. 11a: In page 6, line 21, before "the" to insert "the Local Authority Franchise Offices,". This is a short amendment to change the use of PPS numbers. The section allows for access by the vocational education committees, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pensions Board. My amendment would allow the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, to use PPS...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I am pleased that progress is being made and I hope it will be quicker than progress on many of the other electoral reform changes. I will withdraw the amendment and I hope the Minister, in consultation with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, will produce legislation to address this matter.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I will be relevant because the Minister has managed to raise a number of interesting points in response to our contributions. I have tried to be constructive in this debate. I said from the outset that I do not have a problem with seven being the age of eligibility if the relevant supports are in place. It is not right to misquote us and say we are opposed to the measure; it is absolute...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Jobs are available in those countries. They have after school services, jobs and education, all of the things we do not have.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: There is access to child care at the level required by lone parents and education is immediately accessible. Education here is not immediately accessible to all of those who wish to access it. That is the argument. All of the countries to which the Minister keeps referring - I have no problem with most of them-----

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The Minister did not refer to Britain. I have a problem-----

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: There is a slight difference.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The point I am making is that those provisions are in place in those countries, or are being put in place. They are not being put in place here. There have been cutbacks in investment in education and an increase in the number of unemployed in recent years. Unless the Minister comes into the House with a plan to address that, I must reject these amendments because they are not backed up by...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: These provisions are being introduced to allow the lone parents benefit system to change gradually so that, by 2015, only children up to seven years of age and their parents will qualify for this payment. I had congratulated the Government on the gradual change to voluntary contributions and this should also be a more gradual change. There is a substantial jump for those who qualify. Year...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I have completed my contribution.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I was interested in the exchange and the figures. Much of these were dealt with when discussing the last amendment. The amendment before us logically follows the acceptance of the previous section but it also reinforces the point we were making. The intention of the Minister is to reduce a child's age of eligibility for the one-parent family payment from 14 to seven. Given her comments, we...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Question 23: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the level of additional funding or number of additional affordable places she considers that equates with a credible and bankable commitment on the delivery of relevant childcare precipitating her willingness to implement the reduction of the one parent family payment cut off age to seven. [20594/12]

Written Answers — Departmental Functions: Departmental Functions (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Question 34: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the date on which she expects the rent supplement scheme to have been transferred from her Department to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government; the size of any additional moneys that will be allocated; and the implications for her plans to develop one stop shops. [20595/12]

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I do not deny that.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I never suggested that.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: There are savings in it.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The Minister's logic is strange. I agree with Deputy Fleming that the reason for this provision is starting to emerge. How will a change in the benefit somebody is getting make that person "financially independent", given that the person in question will end up on another benefit? I could understand it if that financial independence were to be delivered by allowing such people to avail of...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2012)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Earlier, the Minister remarked this was not a cost-cutting measure. If it is not, will she tell that to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, who is sitting next to her? His contribution was, "If we had the money we would not be doing this". If one looks at what is being proposed, the vast majority of people have not come out against what the Minister is doing. There is a big if, however,...