Results 9,781-9,800 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Dec 2017)

Catherine Murphy: It is public money but it is not explicit-----

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)

Catherine Murphy: The witnesses are very welcome. The JobPath scheme replaced JobBridge.

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)

Catherine Murphy: JobBridge was phased out after-----

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)

Catherine Murphy: The contract for JobPath went to competitive tender.

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)

Catherine Murphy: How many companies tendered for the contract?

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)

Catherine Murphy: Seetec and Turas Nua got the contracts in December 2013. Is that correct?

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)

Catherine Murphy: Obviously those companies that tendered for the contract had to meet certain specifications. They had to have tax clearance, they had to have generated a minimum amount of revenue in a certain number of years to indicate that they were large enough and so forth. I could be wrong but it appears to me that there was an Irish version of the companies set up. Is that not correct? On 28...

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)

Catherine Murphy: How is that the same legal entity?

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)

Catherine Murphy: So Seetec Business Technology Limited is the parent company for Seetec Employment and Skills Ireland. The parent company for Turas Nua is FRS Recruitment and Working Links Employment Limited.

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)

Catherine Murphy: An inquiry was conducted by the UK's equivalent of this committee, namely, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, into the parent company of Seetec Employment and Skills Ireland and into Working Links. The companies were accused of artificially inflating the figures for people with disabilities. Did the Department pay any attention to that when the contract was being awarded?

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)

Catherine Murphy: What did the Department do, in terms of putting in controls, to make sure that there would not be problems into the future? What did it do to make sure that the figures would not be inflated, for example? What level of oversight does the Department have?

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)

Catherine Murphy: I have had people come to me with individual complaints, one of which I raised in the Dáil a few months ago. An individual was hounded to sign a form. He went off and got a job himself but was hounded, as was his new employer. He did not know how the JobPath company even managed to identify his new employer. He was hounded into signing a declaration to the effect that Seetec had...

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)

Catherine Murphy: I will be frank. I tried to get people to allow me to pass on their names but they are afraid of being victimised.

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)

Catherine Murphy: The witness can understand the position of people in vulnerable situations. They might feel they will be cut off from a welfare payment if they put their heads above the parapet. One cannot force people to give their details. I have encouraged a number of people who have approached me to do that because I understand how those specific cases help in understanding how this works.

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)

Catherine Murphy: I will talk to them. I thank the witness for that. Usually individual cases will show a trend as well. I am more interested in the system but individual cases will give one a glimpse into the system and what could go wrong. We are looking at this from the point of view of whether it is value for money and whether it is progression. Essentially, my understanding of what happens in this...

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)

Catherine Murphy: After that the person is asked to sign a contract.

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)

Catherine Murphy: Then they give permission for their personal data within the contract they sign. It is a personal progression plan but they give permission for things in it. I have seen some of these and they give permissions. In terms of protecting the Department and the process into the future, is their information held here or in the UK?

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)

Catherine Murphy: In terms of value for money, I understand from talking to people who have experience with this that the person sits in front of a computer, and they are supervised or there is somebody in the room, and they must go throughjobs.ie. It is nothing more than that. Is the Department looking at this from the point of view of how it is interacting with the individual or is it just looking at 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)

Catherine Murphy: It is not what I am hearing.

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)

Catherine Murphy: I will refer back to the witness on it because I am hearing about very different experiences from what the witness is saying today.