Results 381-400 of 7,025 for speaker:John Brady

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

John Brady: Sinn Féin makes no apologies for proposing in its pre-budget submission that money should be found to abolish prescription charges and reinstate the State transitional pension. We suggested a range of measures to assist lone parents, such as increasing the cut-off age to ten as an initial measure. All of these measures are fully costed.

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

John Brady: Yes. I am concerned with the definition of a "qualified child" and seek some clarity from the Minister with regard to this section of the Bill. In terms of child benefit, a child is deemed to be no longer a child once he or she reaches 18. In terms of a qualified child payment to a parent in receipt of social welfare, an 18 year old is deemed to be an adult. There seems to be a serious...

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

John Brady: I am sorry. My apologies.

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

John Brady: I move amendment No. 7:In page 8, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:“Child Poverty annual report 13. The Minister shall prepare and lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas on the State’s child poverty rates which will be carried out annually and that this report shall be issued to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection.”. We are...

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

John Brady: A specific report on this-----

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

John Brady: I intend to pursue the amendment.

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

John Brady: The specific target of the Minister's Department is to remove 90,000 children from a consistent state of poverty. There needs to be a specific focus on that and an annual report specifically dedicated to it and the whole issue of child poverty. The Minister outlined a number of reports from the CSO. I am asking for a report on the specific targeted measures to lift 90,000 children out of...

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

John Brady: Yes.

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

John Brady: I move amendment No. 8:In page 8, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:“Report on operation of Back to Work Family Dividend 14. The Minister shall prepare and lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas on the effects of the Back to Work Family Dividend and to include inter aliathe poverty rates among those in receipt of this payment and that this report shall be...

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

John Brady: I hear what the Minister is saying. There is a report already being compiled but this proposed amendment is concerned with where that report is going, on what basis it is being compiled and what is being looked at in the report that is being undertaken. This amendment is quite specific. It proposes a report on the effects of the back to work family dividend to include the poverty rates...

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

John Brady: Yes.

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

John Brady: While I acknowledge that the amendment will bring us into line with EU legislation, I wish to point to a serious problem for returning emigrants. I am not talking about welfare tourists or anything like that; I am referring to someone who is coming back having spent a number of years in Australia, America or wherever else on foot of a job offer. Perhaps after six months or one year that...

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

John Brady: I am not going to go over all the points I made earlier with regard to the timeline but I want to speak about Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, and Community Law and Mediation. They have raised serious concerns around the allowance rates for asylum seekers in direct provision. The Bill does not mention any increase whatever in this area. An adult is expected to live on €19.10 and a...

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

John Brady: I share all the concerns around what I would class as gender discrimination. I take issue with what the Minister has said, although he was quoting someone else.

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

John Brady: Well, the reality on the ground is that many women would hit back at that and contradict the points made.

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

John Brady: I share all of those concerns and ask that a report would be forthcoming on the matter. Subsection (3) of the amendment deals with the jobseeker's allowance and the three-day rule. That rule is causing enormous difficulties as the Minister will be aware. It is very problematic in the context of zero-hour and low-hour contracts in the workplace. There have been some very high-profile...

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

John Brady: I move amendment No. 33:In page 12, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:“Unfair Dismissals employer reimbursement 23. Any employer who has had a finding made against them of unfair dismissal under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007, shall reimburse the State the cost of the unfairly dismissed former employee’s social welfare payments for the period of time...

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

John Brady: That is exactly the point. Unfortunately, there is a double whammy for a person who has been treated appallingly by an employer found guilty of unfairly dismissing the person. Such people are penalised a second time. The Minister is speaking about a severe financial responsibility on the employer, perhaps up to €20,000, and so be it. The employer will have been found to have acted...

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

John Brady: The Minister is surmising. He does not know this. This is trying to save the State money. We are trying to recoup money for the State from employers who have been proven through the WRC to have acted unlawfully in dismissing an employee.

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

John Brady: There is an awful lot of merit in this, otherwise I would not have tabled the amendment. It needs lot more focus from the Minister. I am happy to proceed to the next Stage with this.