Results 381-400 of 16,057 for speaker:Mary Coughlan

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: Ba mhaith liom cúpla bomaite de mo chuid ama a roinnt le mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta O'Donovan.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: In debating this referendum, which was signalled as far back as June 2002 in An Agreed Programme for Government, it is incumbent on politicians on all sides to give leadership. In June we will go to the polls to vote in the local and European elections. We will vote electronically. Things have changed and often we fail to see changes happening around us. In the last decade we have witnessed...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: Irish citizenship automatically confers citizenship and residency rights of the European Union. Abuse of our citizenship is an abuse of European Union citizenship. No other country in the world has a situation where citizenship can be acquired so easily.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: Having identified a problem, it is incumbent on us to safeguard our citizenship entitlements.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: This proposed amendment to the Constitution will restore to the Oireachtas the power to legislate for the conditions for the granting of citizenship to children of non-nationals. Ireland is not unique in this respect. All other member states of the European Union provide for the acquisition of citizenship through legislation or regulation. None of these member states has a constitutional...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: Our intention is clear in this referendum — to end the abuse of the constitutional right to citizenship.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: As the Taoiseach said yesterday, the interpretative declaration is a legal document with a status in international law that copperfastens the integrity of the British-Irish Agreement and eliminates any suggestion that there is any breach of the Agreement's provisions.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: It is beyond dispute that there is not and will not be any breach of the British-Irish Agreement. Opposition parties have suggested that introducing this amendment is racist. That is not the case. As far as I am aware, the only people who have brought the question of race into this debate are the scaremongering members of the Opposition.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: This amendment is most certainly not racist. It will apply even-handedly to the children of all non-nationals irrespective of colour, ethnicity, or any other criterion on which racism is based. In giving leadership we should be responsible, reasoned and considerate in line with our responsibilities as legislators. A deeply held aspiration for generations of Irish men and women is that nothing...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (22 Apr 2004)

Mary Coughlan: They want to milk it for every political advantage. Shame on them. I commend the Bill to the House.

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (4 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: Under the sale of residence provisions a person may sell his or her home and buy or rent more suitable accommodation without the sale proceeds affecting his or her weekly means for social assistance purposes, subject to specified limits. These provisions also apply in certain other instances. For example, where a person moves into a private nursing home or moves in with a person who is...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: My Department operates a range of employment support measures for people on disability payments in order to encourage and facilitate them to take up available work and training opportunities. One of these measures is the rehabilitative earnings disregard that applies in the case of the disability allowance and blind person's pension schemes. Under the measure, people on means tested...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: The South Eastern Health Board was contacted about the case. It advised that the person concerned was refused a rent supplement in accordance with the legislation that provides that asylum seekers and persons who are not lawfully in the State are not entitled to the supplement. The person concerned is an asylum seeker who is currently accommodated in a direct provision centre operated by the...

Written Answers — Property Acquisitions: Property Acquisitions (4 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: The Office of Public Works is responsible for all matters that relate to property acquisition on behalf of my Department.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (4 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: Rent supplement is subject to a means test. Therefore, any change in the level of household income may affect the amount payable. The South Western Area Health Board was contacted about the case. It advised that the rent supplement paid up to February was based on household income that comprised of disability benefit and maintenance payments. Recently the person concerned was awarded the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: My Department is committed to providing a quality customer service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are issued as expeditiously as possible having regard to the eligibility conditions. Entitlement to carer's allowance is based on an applicant satisfying medical, means and residency conditions. In some cases there is...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: The South Western Area Health Board was contacted about the case. It has advised that the application for a rent supplement from the person concerned has not yet been determined. The board is awaiting the return of a completed application form. The board will consider whether to grant a rent supplement when it receives the form.

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (18 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: The person concerned applied for old age contributory pension on 11 August 2001. At the time, an insurance number could not be traced in respect of her and the claim for pension was disallowed. She was advised of this in February 2002. Following further examination of pre-1953 insurance records an insurance number has now been traced for the person concerned. On the basis of contributions...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (18 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: The person concerned is in receipt of an old age non contributory pension at the maximum weekly personal rate of €154. She also has sufficient social insurance contributions to qualify for an old age contributory pension at the weekly rate of €83.70. However, as under social welfare legislation only one pension can be paid to her, she is better off financially by continuing to receive the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (18 May 2004)

Mary Coughlan: Rent supplements are paid under the terms of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards. Measures were introduced last January to re-focus the rent supplement scheme on its original objective which is to meet immediate short-term income maintenance needs as opposed to long-term housing needs. However, the new provisions do...