Results 7,981-8,000 of 12,637 for speaker:Willie O'Dea
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: She has taken double the two minutes.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: I will not go over all the ground covered again. Of course we congratulate An Post on winning the contract. What sort of a red herring is that? It is a smoke screen to say we did not congratulate An Post. Why does the Minister regard it as necessary to change the legislation? I have already pointed out that the contract cannot be challenged on any new basis because one does not change...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: This is a good amendment. Under the new section 38B of the principal Act, which the Minister is inserting by way of section 7 of the Bill, we will have a new system of recouping moneys owed to the State by employers. Deputy Ó Snodaigh is seeking to do something similar. In a situation where an individual is waiting for an unfair dismissal case to be heard, he or she will probably be...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: To clarify, Deputy Mathews is referring to the fact the Minister specifically promised she would not bring about changes in child benefit until such time as a Scandinavian-type system of child care was in place in this country.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: The changes have been brought about, but I cannot see a Scandinavian type system.
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: On the amendment, we introduced FIS, which is a good system, but it is riddled with anomalies. I have pointed out a number of them on several occasions. As I pointed out on Second Stage some of these anomalies constitute a poverty trap. The amendment I tabled was ruled out of order but I will refer generally to the section. FIS is calculated as 60% of the difference between a certain...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: I move amendment No. 22:In page 21, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: "(2) The powers conferred on the Minister by sections 14, 16 and 17 shall not be utilised until after the Department of Social Protection make all reasonable efforts to recover these payments through installed repayments.".This amendment does not relate to people who are defrauding the system but to people...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: There is no suggestion from this side of the House that the Department should not pursue situations where it has paid money out incorrectly. Of course, it has a responsibility to recover overpayments. We are simply making the point that sometimes such overpayments are not the fault of the payee. Sometimes such payments arise because those recipients made a genuine error in their...
- Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: I will be moving amendment No. 26. If I understand the section correctly, it does not give the pension authority the right to override trustees, as that right has existed since 1990 and arises in pensions legislation. When trustees get a unilateral direction from the Pensions Authority to restructure the fund, it puts an obligation on the trustees to inform the pensioners, which is some...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Redeployment (24 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 279. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that two members of staff who are redeployed from FÁS to her Department and are carrying out all of the higher grade duties whilst on secondment to LES Limerick on a continuous basis for 16 years have not received the acting up allowance of €16,135 since January 2012; that they have been...
- Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Facilities (24 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 550. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties that will be caused by the closure of the laboratory at St. John's Hospital, Limerick, which will further increase pressure on an already-stressed laboratory service at University College Hospital; if he will reconsider this decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26767/14]
- Leaders' Questions (25 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: The Taoiseach is failing because he is not doing it.
- Order of Business (25 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: I want to ask the Taoiseach about proposed legislation in the health area. I am referring to No. 96 on the Government list, the health (transport supports) Bill. It is supposed to provide for a scheme to make individual payments to people with severe disabilities who cannot access public transport as a contribution towards their transport costs. In view of the fact that people who are...
- Order of Business (25 Jun 2014)
Willie O'Dea: Has the finance been provided?
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Funding (1 Jul 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 236. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has now taken over the previous responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with regard to the distribution of food to charities here; the timetable in place to distribute the food; the way this process will be managed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28152/14]
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payments (1 Jul 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 238. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the amount of funding that has been allocated for exceptional needs payments in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014; if her attention has been drawn to a problem which arises in isolated rural areas where persons are now being refused assistance for taxi fares for essential medical appointments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28213/14]
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Data (1 Jul 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 250. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of community employment schemes supervisors and assistant supervisors here; if their salary is paid in full by the State; who their official employer is; the current arrangements that are in place or payment of pensions to such persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28388/14]
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: One-Parent Family Payment Eligibility (1 Jul 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 251. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of the one-parent family payment who will lose their entitlement on 1 July 2014 following changes introduced in the budget 2012; the arrangements that will be in place to assist such persons; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28389/14]
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Budgets (1 Jul 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 258. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form the partial year and the full year monetary effect of her Department's budget 2014 reductions to expenditure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28481/14]
- Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Voluntary Housing Sector (1 Jul 2014)
Willie O'Dea: 324. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Clúid Housing Association and other approved housing bodies have engaged with Limerick City and County Council and the office of regeneration regarding a proposal to both build and retrofit and upgrade housing stock in Limerick city; when he will respond to these...