Results 7,441-7,460 of 12,637 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Leaders' Questions (16 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: How many jobs have the labour activation measures created?

Leaders' Questions (16 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: There are 32 applicants for every job vacancy. It is a joke.

Order of Business (16 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: The Government has introduced a number of schemes to extend credit, particularly to SMEs, and they have been less than successful, to put it mildly. The Government acknowledges that because it is proposing legislation, the Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill, to "enhance the success of those schemes". That is urgent legislation so when can we expect to see it?

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I must congratulate the Tánaiste and the Government on the budget presentation which was a masterpiece in spin and public relations. However, reality is dawning more quickly than could have been foreseen. For example, people are reading today about the nefarious consequences of the cap on tax relief for those with private health insurance. Premiums will increase immediately. This is...

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: The Labour Party is getting excited. To answer the question, I will provide the Tánaiste with a copy of our budget proposals as an alternative to his.

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: They involve taxing the wealthy, making the wealthy pay more and the poor less. That is what they are about and precisely what the Labour Party should be doing. What the last Government would, should or might have done is history. In the last general election the people gave their verdict on the Government of the day and entrusted the Labour Party and Fine Gael with governance of the country.

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: On behalf of the people who are watching these proceedings and none too impressed with the Tánaiste's aggressive, bullying and hectoring response to any question -----

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I have three simple questions. First, does the Tánaiste agree -----

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: Does the Tánaiste agree the extension-----

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: -----of a lesser rate to young people is a cut? The extension of a lower rate to more people is a cut and those affected by this extension of the lower rate will suffer. Does the Tánaiste agree that since the Government took office contrary to the commitments made there has been a substantial reduction in provision for the elderly through the slashing of the household benefits package-----

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: -----and for carers, the vulnerable and the unemployed? Will the Tánaiste give the House a categoric assurance the cut of €5 million in the subvention to RTE with regard to those who receive free television licences will not result in any diminution of the benefits given to these people from the Department of Social Protection at present?

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: Is this the Tánaiste's defence? Is this the best the Tánaiste can do?

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: The people are not interested in this. They are interested in what the Government is doing. The Government is in charge.

Leaders' Questions (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I am sorry but the Government is not doing nearly enough.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Overpayments (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: 1. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on the fact that her Department has been pursuing some social welfare recipients to repay overpayments that occurred as far back as the 1980s where there was no question of fraud; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43514/13]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Overpayments (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I want to stress that I am not talking here about cases involving fraud. As far as I am concerned, people who have defrauded the Department should be pursued to the ends of the earth. I posed this question because I have had a large volume of queries on this recently, as have other Deputies from all sides of the House, who have brought them to my attention. People on social welfare,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Overpayments (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: The person in question is not exactly in a very good position to dispute what happened 26 years ago. Is there a legal basis for this? Normally, when one is trying to recover debt, there is a six-year statutory limit. One cannot pursue the debt after a period of six years has elapsed. What is the legal basis for the Department's decision to go after debt that arose more than six years ago?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Overpayments (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I am not suggesting that the Department write off debt. I am simply asking, in the case of my constituent, what the Department was doing for the past 26 years. Why come forward 26 years later? Second, is there a legal basis for doing that? I came across a case recently in which a person was told that he had an overpayment of €133 from several years ago and the Department has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: 4. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the progress made on implementing Pathways to Work; the number of caseworkers currently working with long-term jobseekers to help them back to full employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43771/13]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Schemes (17 Oct 2013)

Willie O'Dea: I am aware that Pathways to Work is one of the centrepieces of Government policy. A European Commission report on the working of the system has been damning. It states:Progress has not been sufficiently fast in light of the urgency and scale of the situation, however, and much more needs to be done...The pace of reforms and the resources mobilised, however, are at times insufficient given...