Results 7,101-7,120 of 12,637 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Other Questions: Employment Support Services (29 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: No. I have a few specific questions on this issue. Is the Minister still confident she will be able to roll out the scheme fully within two years of the initial announcement? Second, what percentage of people who present actually are profiled? Is it true, as I read recently in a newspaper report, that only a very small percentage of people who present have been profiled? Is it true that...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (29 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: 23. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the progress that has been made in implementing the youth guarantee scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25807/13]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (29 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: 134. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the Chief Appeals Officer will confirm the processing time for appeals of carer's allowance, family income supplement, invalidity pension and disability allowance schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26091/13]

Leaders' Questions (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: Wealth taxes. They are taxes on debt.

Leaders' Questions (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: The Tánaiste is actually engaging in an attack on himself and his own record.

Leaders' Questions (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: It is time to move out.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Second Stage (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: Naturally, there are measures in the Bill with which I agree. Most of the provisions of the Bill on the social welfare side are fairly uncontroversial and unexceptional and are designed to provide administrative fixes. Some of them adopt proposals that have already been made to the Government which make a certain amount of sense and more of them simply implement in a legislative form...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Second Stage (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I do not think I am. I am right that people on lone parent's allowance can earn a certain amount without the allowance being affected and then the allowance is reduced in stages as the income increases. My strong impression and information is that if people in receipt of a means tested jobseeker's allowance have any outside income earnings the allowance is reduced euro for euro. There are...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Second Stage (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: Yes, privacy. My main point is that the section arises from the Civil Registration Act 2004. The Minister will be aware that that Act was amended by the Civil Registration Act 2012. This legislation enables secular bodies to solemnise weddings legally. I recall that, at the time, Senator Bacik was involved in drafting it and the Bill was generally supported on all sides of this House....

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Second Stage (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I do not want to name anybody in the House. I do not use the House for naming and shaming people, but I will put people on notice that if this situation does not change very soon, I will be coming in here and naming names. I welcome the improvements in the Bill. I deeply regret that the main challenge facing the Government has not been confronted, but it is not too late to do so on...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Issues (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: 134. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she has received a submission from the Simon Community regarding the review of rent supplement limits; if so, the action she will take regrading same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26333/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Reimbursement Service Payments (30 May 2013)

Willie O'Dea: 298. To ask the Minister for Health the reason arrears due to a medical practice (details supplied) in County Limerick have not yet been paid pertaining to Secretarial Subsidies owed since 2009 and nursing subsidy due since 2012; the reason general practitioners are being penalised while providing medical services to the public under the PCR Services; when the arrears payments will issue; and...

Other Questions: Broadband Services Charges (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: 58. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the way the EU Commission’s proposals for reducing the cost of broadband will be transposed here; his views on the way Irish broadband costs for both business and personal customers compare to other EU countries and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27846/13]

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: Everybody agrees that it is desirable to recover social welfare overpayments. However, we also realise that the vast majority of overpayments made by the Department of Social Protection are as a result of honest mistakes made by the claimants and sometimes by the Department. Fraud accounts for a very small part of it. I have the percentages, but I do not have them to hand. The Minister...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I cannot understand what the Minister is saying about fraud. Nobody here objects to robust recovery measures in the case of fraud. The official statistics showed 32% of cases involved fraud, while the remaining 68% were not fraudulent. The Minister seems to be saying those figures are wrong and a lot of people designated as non-fraudulent are actually fraudulent. That is the gist of what...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: Amendment No. 6 reads: In page 14, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:“9. Section 311 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3): “(4) (a) An appeals officer shall decide an appeal within a prescribed time of 60 working days from the date of receipt of the appeal. (b) Where notice of a decision under section 311 is...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister said that the appeals system is a quasi-judicial process, and I am aware of that. She said that the process takes time, and I am very much aware of that. In my amendment I am providing for a period of time in this respect, namely, up to three months - 12 weeks or 60 working days. The Minister pointed to the new resources that have been put in place and the changes that have...

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: That is beside the point.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I also have an amendment to the section but I note it will be reached later.

Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (11 Jun 2013)

Willie O'Dea: The general principle on which the Government seems to be operating in regard to pensions and the recommendations, as I understand them, of the OECD in its recent pensions report suggest that we will have to secure the pension base in this country and that the only way this can be done is by people contributing more, although certainly getting more benefits. However, this is a situation...