Results 4,061-4,080 of 7,412 for speaker:Neasa Hourigan

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 Nov 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: It would be more correct.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 Nov 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: It does, but is this work more for the Department of Finance than for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 Nov 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: An interdepartmental body would have to take it up.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Fiscal Assessment Report: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (30 Nov 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: As there are no further questions, it falls to me to thank the witnesses for their time. I am always conscious when people are in here late at night. As per usual, the witnesses have been a mine of information.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I start, as others have, by thanking the staff. We seem to be rushing from crisis to crisis in this country and much of that has fallen on the witnesses' Department. I hope they will pass on our thanks to their staff. I will focus on the compensation issue but have a couple of quick-fire questions before that. What is the waiting time for PPS numbers?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: That is considerably longer than in previous years. I am talking pre-Covid and pre-crisis.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: We were at one stage looking at ten days. I have been in contact with the Department before because it has a knock-on effect for women trying to access certain types of healthcare, particularly reproductive healthcare. To wait four weeks is quite serious for some people.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Does the Department have a target?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Yes, and it is done retrospectively.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay, so employers can apply. What about an NGO? Can an NGO apply for an emergency case?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: So, for a healthcare issue or, for example, for children, the Department will take representations.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: That is good to hear. Where there is an urgent request, what is the time?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Is immediately three days or ten days?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Great, thank you very much. The witnesses mentioned pensions in their statement and some changes that will be in place by 2024.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: This question comes, to some degree, from work on a different committee. There are huge demographic pressures in terms of pensions. In terms of pension planning and planning for what will happen in 2023 and 2024, for how many years out is a plan in place? Is it three years as with the rest of the Government in terms of other sectors, three to five years or five to ten years?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: The Department of Social Protection has a file somewhere with a pension plan for the next 70 years.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: Is that in the public sphere?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: It sits on someone's desk but it will be published.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: That was flippant of me. They are reading it but it will be published eventually.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I am not asking because of that political point about the pension age. It is more about demographic pressures on the budget, from a budgetary oversight point of view. I will move back to the compensation issue. We were provided with a helpful graphic around how it works but I am trying to glean more information. The claimant contacts the compensator. The Department places...