Results 6,761-6,780 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

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

Regina Doherty: Sorry, Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I know it is not in the question-----

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

Regina Doherty: -----but the Deputy raised JobPath. The only people who are charged a penalty relating to JobPath are those who do not show up and engage with the programme that they have signed up for. In exactly the same way, anybody who engages with the live register through our Intreo offices who does not show up and present himself or herself as being available for work does not qualify for this...

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

Regina Doherty: -----and available freely for work full-time to satisfy the criteria.

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

Regina Doherty: It is all about perspective. Somebody has only failed when he or she has stopped or given up. The Department will never stop or give up looking after the people who are most in need. To put it in context, there are currently 78,681 people who applied for carer's benefit last year. Fewer than 1,000 were refused on appeal. That is a tiny number by anybody's standards. There is a marked...

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

Regina Doherty: -----which is why we will keep working to improve the service, not only the applications but the appeals process.

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

Regina Doherty: The Department transferred administration of the illness benefit scheme to our new core business objects IT platform in August 2018. Although the system worked effectively for over 80% of illness benefit customers, significant difficulties arose following implementation for a large number of recipients. My Department took three main steps to resolve the issues impacting on payments. It...

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

Regina Doherty: I tell the Deputy again that I can only deal in the facts. I have received a daily report on illness benefit since the proverbial hit the fan during the summer. It was an incredibly stressful time for the thousands affected in exactly the manner the Deputy has just described. I apologise sincerely again to all those recipients who were mucked around on foot of our attempt to change things...

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

Regina Doherty: Calls to our helpline are back down to normal levels. People have all but ceased to send me individual representations from constituencies.

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

Regina Doherty: If Deputy Pringle has people who are still distressed, I ask him to give me the details and I will resolve matters immediately.

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

Regina Doherty: I do not mean to split hairs or fight with the Deputy, but anyone who comes to me with an issue and a personal public service number will see that resolved on the same day. I appeal to the Deputy that if there are people living in Donegal who feel they are still experiencing difficulties and he provides me with their personal public service numbers, I will have the matters resolved today. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Commencement of Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 45, 69, 73 and 79 together. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue which it is particularly important to address now that so many people have been waiting for so long for ratification. I am aware of the pressing need to make technical amendments to the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, including those sections of Part 9 which provide for the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Commencement of Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy does not need to read me his letters because I get them myself, although it is valuable to read them into the record of the House to demonstrate to people the frustration being experienced. I might not get them every day but certainly I receive them every second day from families who just want to have their legal status recognised. I appreciate their frustration. I am not sure...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Commencement of Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: At the risk of repeating everything I have just said to Deputy Boyd Barrett, and in case Deputy Brady was not listening, I will reiterate exactly what I have just said. I plan to bring a memo to Cabinet at the beginning of next year. Deputy Brady obviously knows more about my schedule than I do given that he has a date and I do not. It will be the beginning of next year. With the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Commencement of Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: By whom?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Delays (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: The social welfare appeals office functions entirely independently to and separately from the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Department. It is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. All decisions taken by my Department’s deciding officers and designated persons are appealable to the chief...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Carer's Allowance Delays (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: Notwithstanding the difficulty in the length of time for processing an initial claim and then for a claim to go from review to appeal or from appeal to the deciding officer, it is genuinely unexplainable and unacceptable that when an appeal is made and the deciding officer decides in the positive for the carer, a carer would have to wait as long as the Deputy's constituent has. I am not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Illness Benefit Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy for bringing up this issue, although he might be late to the party. We have had a number of discussions on this issue over recent-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Illness Benefit Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Illness Benefit Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I certainly was not reprimanding anybody about their presence. I was-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Illness Benefit Waiting Times (19 Dec 2018)

Regina Doherty: I mean no disrespect to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle but there is no need to remind me. I was referring to-----