Results 6,741-6,760 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not think the Senator will be surprised by what I tell her. She suggested that some people in the Department have concerns about the public services card but they do not. There are some people in Ireland who consistently express their concerns with the public services card, but they do not come from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, and the Senator and I both...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Senator is making my case for me. The reason it is so low is that we employed SAFE 2 in 2011.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I assure the Senator that there is no intention of anybody moving towards an ID scheme. If there was, it would be a fairly poor one given that one is not obliged to show one's public services card, PSC, card to anyone, so it certainly would not work. I regret that it appears that I am always fighting with Senator Higgins, because I have huge respect for her, but I cannot allow her to say...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: None of that is in the remit of my Department.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am really glad that we are to finish on a positive note. I ask Senator Higgins to withdraw the amendment because very selfishly I will be unable to complete the passage of the Bill today if she does not. I share her views and concerns in the area. In the coming days I will be able to furnish the Senator with a number of reports containing data of which she may not be already aware. With...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I cannot acquiesce to it. I can certainly look at the options in regard to positively allowing people to continue to engage with their Intreo office, with case managers and so on. However, from a policy perspective, what the Senator is asking me to acquiesce to is that it is okay to maintain lone parents on social welfare until their youngest child is 18. I genuinely cannot acquiesce to...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Can we look at it again when we get the Indecon report in quarter 2? The data might say we do not need to do this. If the data tell me clearly we have a problem, let us work out what that problem is. However, if there is no problem, we should not undermine an entire policy. There will always be a small number of people whom it does not suit and we need to make sure we support them....

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Let us look at the data after we get the report in quarter 2.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Illness Benefit Reform (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy for his question. Illness benefit is a scheme under which people who are unable to work due to illness or injury are entitled to receive a weekly payment from the Social Insurance Fund. The basic rate of payment for a single person is €198 per week. Entitlement to the payment, which may be made for up to two years, is contingent on a person's social insurance...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Illness Benefit Reform (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am absolutely sure that 70% or in excess of 9,000 certificates coming into the Department every day are the new forms. I am also absolutely sure that we made it perfectly clear when we issued the circular to GPs on 6 August that we would pay for the new forms but we would also continue to pay in respect of the old forms until such time as all stock of the old forms in our GP offices and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Illness Benefit Reform (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I am absolutely confident in confirming to the Deputy that we have not and will not pay any GP who has sent in certificates with photocopies. I am not aware or a survey conducted by the national GP forum but I am keen to read it. I know the statistics and they show that 9,000 certificates come in every day on new forms. They are the stock we are replenishing. We are not replenishing the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: JobPath Programme (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: JobPath is a case management service that provides employment counselling and advice to long-term unemployed jobseekers with a view to improving their prospects of securing sustained employment. It complements the case management services already provided by the Department's staff via Intreo and other contracted providers such as the local employment service. JobPath operates on a payment...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: JobPath Programme (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: It is interesting that Sinn Féin knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing. I reiterate that the average cost to the State for the tens of thousands of people who have gone through JobPath is €780 per person. That is the average payment. The average cost per person for other contracted services we use is significantly higher and there is never a peep out of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: JobPath Programme (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I remind the Deputy that JobPath is a case management service that provides unemployed and underemployed people with advice and long-term employment assistance to help them improve their prospects of securing full-time work. That is it in a nutshell. There is no hounding or harassing people after they find full-time work in order to get some other further payment. It is simple. It is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy for his question as it gives me a welcome opportunity to put the status of this service on the record of the House. The dedicated mortgage arrears advice service which operates across the MABS network was established in 2015 as part of the Government's response to providing supports to hundreds of thousands of mortgage holders who were in arrears at that time. The service...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy is correct in saying that the current contract runs out on 15 February. However, the service is well aware that I am bringing a report on Abhaile to Cabinet in the first or second week in January with a request to extend the service. A memorandum will be brought to Government seeking an extension of the service to the end of 2019. I am particularly proud of the staff of Abhaile...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mortgage Arrears Information and Advice Service (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: That is not possible because the last Cabinet meeting before Christmas took place yesterday. The information that Deputy O'Dea brings to the House is news to me and I can guarantee that it is also news to the regional boards of MABS. We are certainly not refusing new clients or putting anyone's job or contract with Abhaile at risk. The service is fully aware that it has a full budget for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank Deputy Bríd Smith for her question. My Department is committed to providing a quality service to those who submit applications for different schemes. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Where any scheme experiences delays, all possible steps are taken to improve processing times. This is not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I will. I do not know where Deputy Smith is getting her figures from. Only 1% of our applications are appealed. By any standard, that is not a huge amount. The Deputy claims that huge amounts of people are refused carers. The only people who are refused carers are those who do not reach the qualifications on the carer's application form. We do not willy-nilly say we will refuse people...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: -----to provide the information that will give a satisfactory outcome for whatever scheme they are on.