Results 9,841-9,860 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: That is a finding with which we do not agree.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: I will respond to Senator Higgins and Deputy Brady. There are 3.2 million active users of the PSC. We probably issued more than 4 million cards. Some may have been lost and therefore some have been issued twice. To say that people were made to get the card is the grossest misstatement that one could have made.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: There are 1.2 million service users-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: There are 1.2 million recipients of social welfare in the State-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: If the members had let me finish the statement, they might not have been prompted to shout at me. There are 3.2 million active users of the card. There are only 1.2 million recipients of services from within my Department. The other 2 million people who have the cards got them for the crack. They just got them because they wanted to have them in their back pocket. I put it to the members...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: -----and it may not be as quick and efficient as it would otherwise be. However, people are not being denied public services outside and above those provided by my Department in respect of which it is a requirement for individuals to undergo the SAFE 2 identification process because they do not have PSCs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: I have stated on a number of occasions that we do not agree with the findings. I am aware that the Senator and the Deputy very much agree with the findings, which puts them and me at odds. That is a pity. We do not agree with any of the eight findings initiated in the report that was presented to us on 15 August.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: That is the legal advice I have.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: I do not subscribe to Deputy Brady's view that current practices are discriminatory. I have said many times that there are plenty of options for anybody aged under 25 to receive the full payment through training, employment opportunities, community employment, CE, or the youth employment support scheme. There is a wide variety of opportunities. I must correct the Deputy's probable...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: There is no misinformation as it is comprehensive work that is feeding into the next Pathways for Work process, which we will probably launch next year. I appreciate that we are waiting for this for far too long.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: I would probably get the ESRI to do it for me. It is not my responsibility. The way it was framed last year was probably much wider than I can stick my nose in. I have to be responsible for the people who will be adversely affected from a financial perspective.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: Under the FEMPI legislation introduced by the then Fianna Fáil Government in May 2009, the grant was reduced from what was then €830 to €760 per aid. In 2012, the Government, the grant was reduced from €760 per aid down to the current €500. I am happy to compile a report on this. I already know what is in it because I met Chime and I commissioned a report...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: I do not wish to debate the policy relating to the retirement age, which, for argument's sake, will be 66, 67 and 68, but I have a difficulty with the way the amendment is worded because it would not just require me to produce a report. I am happy to produce a report for the Deputy and, in fact, most of it has been done in the confines of total contributions, which will come before the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: Why does the Deputy want me to produce the report if the information is readily available?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: If it is definitely not available, why can the Deputy not do it?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: Again, I have no problem with compiling a report, but the Deputy seems to have missed the point that the Social Insurance Fund is part of contribution-based system and that if one does not contribute to it, one cannot expect to receive under it. That is the purpose of the system. If he wants to change to a universal system, we are talking about having an entirely different cheque book from...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: Yes.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: If the Deputy is prepared to change the amendment and increase the figure from three to six months, I will be quite happy to conduct the review.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: Yes, if the time period can be changed from three months to six months.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)

Regina Doherty: I support both Deputies. Last week when I spoke to Deputy Penrose, I said that whatever impression had been given, it was certainly not my intention. I will table an amendment to make sure there will be a sunset clause, exactly as mentioned in the amendment. I, therefore, ask Deputy O'Dea to withdraw the amendment. Unfortunately, I did not have the amendment ready for today, but it will...