Results 20,161-20,180 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, but they are not the only group. What I am trying to point out is that they are not the only people who have an issue -----

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ----- with the way entitlement to the State contributory pension is calculated. What we are trying to do is to move towards a total contributions approach, which means that what matters most is how many contributions a person has made and not when he or she made them. That would make a big difference in favour of the group to which Deputy Bríd Smith is referring. We also want to have...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy is correct, sorry. We must go through the records from the 1960s and 1970s and that is a big job of work. We will do it but it is not a straightforward change. The seasonal work issue is coming up more than it did in the past, particularly in Donegal. I do not know why that is the case but the Department would be willing to compile a report on it. I am just not sure, in...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The unfair dismissals legislation provides that any social welfare payments which the employee may have received after the date of dismissal are not taken into account in calculating the financial loss that the person suffered as a result of the dismissal. This ensures that the person is not penalised for having been in receipt of a social welfare payment following his or her dismissal....

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Such payments are not taken into account.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Perhaps I need to give a bit more thought to this but the advice I have been given is the unfair dismissals legislation provides that any social welfare payments which the employee may have received after the date of dismissal are not taken into account in calculating the financial loss. If we were to change this, presumably the person would have to get a lower award from the Workplace...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: There are two fundamental problems with this. One is double compensation. If somebody were to get an award of €100,000, that person could only receive €80,000. The person cannot be compensated twice by receiving €20,000 in welfare and €100,000 from the WRC. The person would have to receive a lower reward, as I understand it. We would also have to go after the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: This is something I would like to take a proper look at. I am not sure we can do it by Report Stage. It might need to be something we consider for the second social welfare Bill we will have in the spring. One issue, for example, is that very often these cases can take a long time to conclude. They can take two years to conclude on some occasions and some even go on to court. The...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I would genuinely like a chance to talk to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, who sponsored the unfair dismissals legislation, and think this out properly. I do not think I will be able to do this by next week.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: We will genuinely have a look at this. It will not be done by next week, but by the spring Bill. We can recoup money. We recouped €20 million from insurance companies last year. If we can recoup money from employers legitimately, I am totally up for doing it.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Without repeating anything I have said in the past, it is an issue in which I am interested. I want to look at all the anomalies, not just the homemaker's scheme and the whole issue of averaging. My key official in charge of this area says we will have the work done and a report prepared in the first quarter. I cannot swear to that but it is intended that we will have the report in the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: It will be at the end of the first quarter.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: They have not contacted me. MABS and some other bodies have.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The original purpose of the mortgage interest supplement scheme was to provide short-term support to eligible people who were unable to meet their mortgage interest repayments in respect of a house which was their sole place of residence. The most appropriate pathway for customers experiencing mortgage difficulties is through ongoing engagement with their lender, exploring sustainable...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: What Deputy Collins says is right on one level. Somebody who is in short-term arrears would not go through the mortgage arrears resolution process, MARP, because that is for people who are in long-term arrears and need to resolve the elephant in the room, that is-----

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: -----the fact they cannot get out of debt. Even still, I do not favour restoring the mortgage interest supplement scheme on a short-term basis. One has a mortgage for 20 or 30 years, maybe 40 years. Say one cannot make repayments for six months or a year for whatever reason, whether because one is sick, loses one's job or has gone back to college or overseas for a year or two. Other...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I move amendment No. 37:In page 12, line 6, to delete “Sections 4and 9” and substitute “Sections 4, 9, 10* and 16** (other than paragraph (a)(i))”. The Bill, as published, provides that provisions in section 4 of the Bill which deal with the invalidity pension and those in section 9 which deal with the treatment benefit will be subject to commencement orders. The...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: To answer Deputy John Brady's first question, it was me who provided for the introduction of free GP care for children under six and adults over 70. Alongside my Minister of State at the time, former Deputy Kathleen Lynch, I was very proud to be able to provide GP care without fees for 350,000 children under six years and adults over 70. I anticipate that the Government will go further and...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I would not like to take it for granted either. The bottom line is that I intend to begin the extension of benefits to the self-employed in March and to others in October. I am meeting representatives of the dentists on Monday. I believe I can get this done, but I am not going to insert something into legislation that might go awry. That is the reality in dealing with legislation.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Because we could end up in a situation where something goes wrong and there would be a legal right to reimbursement.