Results 961-980 of 3,444 for speaker:Shane Cassells

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: Will the Secretary General account for the variations on the gross figures for the State pensions, non-contributory, at a cost of €19 million, and State pension, contributory, at a cost of €93 million? If there are issues pertaining to people claiming pensions, and I acknowledge the Comptroller and Auditor General referred in his report to the people who have been jailed for...

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: Mr. McKeon is reiterating as the Secretary General for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection that there is not an extensive level of fraudulent level in the country.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: In fairness, it was the Department for Employment Affairs and Social Protection that effectively sensationalised it by the engagement process. Mr. McKeon is saying one thing on one hand and one on another.

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: There was a fourth element that was discussed in this committee, which is that it potentially leads to the stigmatisation of those in receipt of payments as well in terms of reinforcing a position in society. Mr. McKeon said in his opening statement the Department was trying to move from the stigmatisation of destitution to an essential component of welfare but in fact it had the converse...

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: What was the total cost of it?

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: On the recovery of overpayments, and write offs, a total of almost €3 million was written off in 2016, which is a substantial sum. Will Mr. McKeon deal with the analysis by the Comptroller and Auditor General in terms of the processes for recovering overpayments? There were a number of significant amounts that have not been recovered. I note that Mr. McKeon says many were in the...

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: In 162 cases, there were €149,000

Public Accounts Committee: Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund (7 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: I regret that I do not have the page reference in front of me. Could Mr. McKeon touch on that point in terms of the amount of money that was written off in 2016 of nearly €3 million.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Services for People with Disabilities (12 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: 309. To ask the Minister for Health if the 60% grant cut by the HSE to the early intervention therapy programmes for children with Down's syndrome in counties Meath and Louth will be reversed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52841/17]

Online Advertising and Social Media (Transparency) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members] (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: That is hard to follow. Back in 1996 when I commenced my degree in journalism, as part of the photojournalism module we had to learn how to develop our own pictures in a darkroom. Within a short time of passing the exam, digital cameras had become the norm, darkrooms were no more, photo film companies were going out of business and I was left with a redundant skill. Within another short...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: It is my pleasure to be here this morning at this meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government to discuss my proposals for the Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017. Earlier this year, the Dáil debated my proposals on Second Stage of the Bill and I set out the rationale for the re-establishment of town councils in Ireland....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: Senator Murnane O'Connor should not worry. We do have Carlow on the list.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: May I respond to those points?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: A provision of six months is included in that regard.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: I thank all members for their comments, all of which I will try to address very quickly. I agree with Senator Boyhan, particularly in respect of the finance issue because it is the key difference between what was there previously and what is there now in terms of the effectiveness of the municipal district system. When this was debated in the Dáil, many plaudits were given to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: I agree completely with the Senator. There was a wider debate on councillor remuneration in the Seanad last month in terms of acknowledging the work councillors do and paying them appropriately. We should be unashamedly proud of the work they do. Sometimes that is not said enough. When I started off as a town councillor at 21, the remuneration was £125 per month. I did not care...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: I thank the members for allowing me to speak first. I extend a warm welcome to all the officials and thank them for the presentation. Its tone, as set out by Mr. Paul Lemass, although perhaps I am being unfair about this, makes a negative assessment of the reintroduction of a town councils system, if I am judging it right with respect to posing questions as to why its reintroduction should...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Discussion (13 Dec 2017)

Shane Cassells: Just on a point of order, the Minister of State, who is from Navan, cited that in the debate but those plans for Navan were put in place during the term of the town council, not the municipal district council and are being funded through the NTA rather the Department, in the context of a strategic transport plan. That plan was put in place when the town council was still in situ and is not a...