Results 3,261-3,280 of 5,046 for speaker:Paschal Mooney

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I move amendment No. 2: In page 6, line 29, after "income' " to insert "in excess of €6,000".

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: This section provides for an increase in the waiting period for entitlement to illness benefit from three days to six, with the change to take effect from January 2014. I understand this will result in a saving of some €22 million, but it also places another burden on small businesses by transferring the cost of sick pay onto them. There are 200,000 small businesses in Ireland...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: For the record, last year the Minister indicated that she was reducing the statutory redundancy from 70% of two weeks per year to zero or increasing the sick pay leave, as in the Bill now. The Minister has now done both. From that point of view, some businesses that have been downsizing over recent years because of the economic recession are now caught on the double. This is an extra...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: The Minister is right.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I applaud the Minister for her comments following my colleague, Senator Power's contribution on breast feeding. They say that men should not engage in this debate, but it is a wider national health issue.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I fully support this concept. My wife breast fed all of our children and I understood from my late mother that I was also breast fed, as were all of her children.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Perhaps that is the reason. It obviously had some beneficial affect on my health in the long term, thankfully, and it will continue. Fewer than 50% of mothers in Ireland breast feed in the immediate days after birth. In the UK, which is our nearest comparator, the average is almost 80%. Anything that can be done by the Minister, as a woman and as head of a Department which deals with a...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I am sure the Leas-Chathaoirleach spent a long time thinking up that one. I take his point.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I oppose the section.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I oppose the section and would like to hear the Minister's comments on it.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: We discussed this matter on Second Stage in some detail, in respect of the withdrawal of the bereavement grant. There have been several submissions from various sources which are opposed to this Bill, not least the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament. I have already made the case for our opposition to this measure on Second Stage.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Who would almost certainly pass on that information to the people that Senator Moloney was talking about. If they did not know about it, they would certainly have known about it when an event occurred.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Much of the ground has already been covered on Second Stage and up to now on Committee Stage. It might come as a surprise if I were to say I agree with the comments made by the Taoiseach and others about handing out money to 18 and 19 year olds and that it would be far better to have them on a training course or upskilling. I also agree there should be more training courses. Therein lies...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: It applies to actors in general.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: We already dealt with this matter in some detail on Second Stage and I know the Minister made some responses that were very specific and which I am sure she will repeat again on Committee State. Nonetheless as Senators Cullinane and Byrne have done, it is important that we record our opposition to this proposal. The submission on the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill by FLAC and the...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Does the Minister agree that for this proposal to be effective and not seen simply as a cost saving exercise, the solution lies with the banks? The information the Minister provided indicates that in recent years there has been no change in the principal amounts of loans owed to banks. In the case of a significant number of mortgages, the banks have been happy to take the mortgage interest...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Everyone is making that point.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: Referring to the FLAC and NCLC submission on this section and section 14, which is similar, they say that the provisions in the new scheme being introduced are complex, and the Minister has acknowledged that, but it is not clear from the text or the explanatory memorandum how the scheme will operate in practice. They go into considerable detail on that which I will not put on the record now...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: In the context of appeals, FLAC and the NCLC ask the question that when a statement of recoverable benefits is issued a copy, but not an original, is sent to the person receiving the benefit but the original goes to the compensator. Does the compensator have the first right of appeal or is the first right of appeal to the social welfare recipient? The Minister appeared to indicate in her...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2013)

Paschal Mooney: I am grateful to the Minister. FLAC and the NCLC make the point that the denial of the right to appeal is in breach of rights to fair procedure and that section 343(v) of the Principal Act provides that if an appeals officer decides that the Department has under-estimated the sum due under the statement of recoverable benefits, that the compensator is liable for the difference. It is...