Results 2,961-2,980 of 24,567 for speaker:Róisín Shortall

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: It is not true.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: The point is that single people have fared relatively poorly.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister needs to be honest in his line of argument.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister is not. He is twisting the argument as usual.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: We should bring this discussion to a close because we are going around in circles. The Minister's failure to recognise the additional costs that a single pensioner has over and above a pensioner living with somebody else has meant that in recent years single pensioners have lost out relative to pensioners living as couples or in larger family situations. Single pensioners have lost out...

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: It may have been an oversight by the Minister and his officials. Given that they have lost out relative to pensioners living as couples, we now need to pay attention to that area and ensure they do not fall further behind.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: We are talking about the relative position.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: I keep saying it is relative and the Minister is denying that.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: We are all interested to hear the Minister's thinking on this matter. As Deputy Enright said, there is no consensus on what should happen. We all recognised the serious difficulties with poverty traps in the past. I refer to the disincentives encountered by persons who might have been thinking about moving from the welfare system to the workforce. There was an emphasis on child benefit...

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: Not if the child is over six years.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: What about teenage children?

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: Payments that everybody receives.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: One can use figures to defend anything or make any case one wants. Will the Minister imagine for one moment that he is a multimillionaire and I am a lone parent on social welfare?

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: I asked the Minister to imagine that he is. Let us imagine we both have 17 year old sons and receive child benefit. Apart from the grant in respect of clothing and footwear when the child goes back to school, the Minister can more than adequately provide for his child without difficulty. The only sum in recognition of the costs involved for me as a lone parent raising a 17 year old child...

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister should stop trying to distort the situation.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: I am talking about a real life situation where there are two people in very different circumstances raising a 17 year old son. Leaving aside child benefit, which every child receives, the only welfare payment that will be made to me as a lone parent on social welfare for my 17 year old son is €24 per week. It is not possible to provide any quality of life for a teenager on a payment of...

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: Poverty is relative.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: The Minister should talk to teachers in schools in disadvantaged areas about that problem.

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: When are they supposed to study for the leaving certificate?

Social Welfare Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (12 Dec 2007)

Róisín Shortall: A schoolchild should not have to work to survive.