Results 1,681-1,700 of 1,842 for speaker:Marie Moloney

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

Marie Moloney: I will try to keep my tone of voice civil. Anybody who knows me knows that is the way I always speak. I always try to be of a happy disposition. Nobody can argue that. As a Labour Party Senator, it is very hard to stand over the cuts that are being made and it does hurt, but I know it has to be done, as I know most of the Opposition——

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

Marie Moloney: I wish to reply to the comment levelled at me by a Senator who said: "She seems to be happy with it, [the budget] in her tone of voice." If I must change the tone of my voice, I will. When I listen to what is played back on radio, I run, as I have never thought my voice is that nice.

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

Marie Moloney: On a point of information, the Senator has moved to another section.

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

Marie Moloney: Senator Darragh O'Brien's proposal on informing people was a good one. It is easy to refer to the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, and Citizens Information, but one might not be up to speed on social welfare provisions if one is at home looking after kids. Unless a spouse is terminally ill, no one knows when he or she will become a widower or a widow. It could be me or any other...

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

Marie Moloney: To qualify for a widowed parent's grant, one must qualify for contributory survivor's pension. Will the qualifying criteria move in line with the requirement to have made 260 contributions?

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

Marie Moloney: They will move.

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

Marie Moloney: This section concerns new applicants. We should also realise that it only applies to someone whose spouse earns over €400. Where this is the case, the household gets a benefit and there is a household income per week of €600 — the benefit and the earnings of the spouse. If the spouse earns less than €400, this does not apply and there is no loss. Therefore, there is a minimum...

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

Marie Moloney: The Senator is being unfair. We are not dressing it up.

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

Marie Moloney: Senator Thomas Byrne who has left the Chamber presented an argument on behalf of new applicants. Times were better when people applied for the benefit in the past and we must be realistic. More money was available and we were able to help such individuals. If we make a big issue about new and existing recipients, it may result in existing recipients losing their benefit. When people used...

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

Marie Moloney: We are discussing the Social Welfare Bill.

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

Marie Moloney: I apologise to Senator Norris. He is correct.

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

Marie Moloney: I wish to inform Senator Norris that I did not intend to reprimand him earlier. The Bill is so wide-ranging in nature and so important that we will require all the time available to us to discuss it. If it were eventually necessary to apply a guillotine to the debate, Senators would complain. We should, therefore, adhere to discussing the Bill itself. As Senator Norris correctly pointed...

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

Marie Moloney: The finances vary——

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

Marie Moloney: The Senator's Government was telling us that we were awash with money.

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

Marie Moloney: Some people are under the misapprehension that disablement benefit is disability benefit. It certainly is not. A person qualifies for disablement benefit if he or she has an accident on the way to work, during work or on the way home from work, without taking a break. This is in addition to the occupational injuries benefit and is in addition to disability, and a person can work with it....

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

Marie Moloney: It depends on the severity of the injury and whether the loss of the finger stops the person carrying out the job he or she was doing before the accident. It is not just 14%.

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

Marie Moloney: It can be set at any amount——

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

Marie Moloney: Are we putting percentages on our body parts? A person could lose a finger and be rated 25% disabled. A pianist who loses a finger and cannot play the piano could be rated at 50%. I do not think the percentages were set in respect of just losing the finger. It is about the extent of a person's injury and how it impedes the person from carrying out his or her job. I can see where the...

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

Marie Moloney: That was an example.

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

Marie Moloney: It is paid on a very reduced rate stamp and not even on the A stamp. It is paid on the J stamp.