Results 5,581-5,600 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Plus 9,000 non-Republic of Ireland residents. The letters will be sent in the coming weeks. The reviews will take place before the end of the year, with an expectation of making one lump sum payment and then continuing weekly with the new pension payment, to be backdated to March this year. On the fiscal space of €800 million, members are aware that any Government can increase...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: We have to be creative this year. I hope and expect that there will be more than €800 million to be spread around the 15 Departments. The Deputy referred to lone parents in the context of the earnings disregard which he said was not related to the number of children. He is correct - it is not. It is related to the increase in the qualified child payment that we made last year....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Chair and Deputy Brady. I am grateful for their support and comments on the Christmas bonus. From dealing with people whose only source of income is the weekly payment they get from the Department of Social Protection, we all know how worried they were made feel today. I would say there is not a Deputy or Senator in these Houses who did not get countless calls, emails and text...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I beg the Deputy's pardon. Two figures are issued, namely, every month and every quarter. The monthly figures from the CSO for the end of August show that the youth unemployment rate is 13.9%. It is the quarterly figures that we really rely upon, the labour force survey. They reflect a more accurate position. That figure is at 15.4%. Given that it is coming from 30% and going down, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I agree with the Senator that no child should be living in consistent poverty in a modern society such as we have in Ireland, notwithstanding the challenges we have faced in recent years and most likely will face again. Let us not be naive about the latter. It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure that the State does everything possible to make sure that does not happen. We must also...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I absolutely agree that it is not the answer. Nobody is ever going to refuse an increase in a payment directly into a household. It has been shown right across the European Union that we have the best outcomes from the social transfers system that we have employed and engaged with for scores of years. It is not just about giving extra money. It is also about making sure we improve the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I appreciate that. That particular change in isolation will cost the Exchequer, the tax man, probably in excess of €70 million. To be respectful, on the €290 million the Senator is talking about, given that we have only €800 million to spend this year, I do not believe it is something that is even on the table this year. However, I understand and appreciate the reason...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Senator and will start by complimenting him. We were both elected to the Oireachtas in 2011 and he has been relentless in raising these issues ever since. That was because he had experienced at first hand the impact of the social welfare system's capacity to look after self-employed persons like him. He had not only provided a job for himself for donkey's years but also for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: As the issue of the bereavement grant arises in the context of budgetary discussions, I am reluctant to reply to the Senator, other than to say I understand why it was done away with. What people do not remember is the range of other support payments, many of which come from the Department, that are available to the bereaved. We do not just stop minding people once they become bereaved. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Senator Higgins is dead right when she says that it is not about spending money for the sake of having expenditure lines on a budget. Behind every line is a person, a family, a child who needs support and, in many cases, has no support other than the solidarity and goodness of Irish people. It is not my money, or Senator Higgins's money. It derives from social insurance contributions for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Would the Senator mind giving me more information? I will certainly bring the matter to somebody's attention, but the last thing we need is to have somebody being hindered who wants to participate in a community employment scheme to be activated in full or part-time quality employment. The supports available encourage people into activation, training, education and, therefore, a career. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: It is the first thing I should have said. I apologise. For many pensions, 40 years is the norm and the number which will be required as part of the total contributions approach, TCA, 2012 revisions when the legislation is passed for those affected by the 2012 rate band. The Senator is aware that class S contributions were only introduced in 1988. That will make it challenging for many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not doubt it. While we are not wedded to the outcome, the report was only part of the public consultation process. It certainly was not the agreed endgame. We are in consultations on the design of the TCA, which is probably the most important thing, other than the principle of the policy, which we will determine in the next couple of months. What is most important for me is that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Serious headlines.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: What the Senator did was sad.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Senator's responsibility, not being disingenuous-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Will the Senator clarify whether he said maternity or paternity?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Fine. I will say two things. It is a fact that the birth rate is down this year on last year, so both maternity and paternity payments are down. Paternity leave is a new scheme. Given that in most, though not all, houses the man earns more than the woman, a work-in-progress issue that we will have to address over the coming years, taking paternity leave has a cost implication for certain...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I will address the point made by Deputy Brady before answering Deputy Bríd Smith's questions. He refers to a penalty but we call it a discount. An 8% discount is applied to all fees paid from April to December 2017. The Department has recently applied discounts to both contractors, in the range provided for in the contracts, on all fees payable in 2018. In addition, the Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: That was last year.