Results 1,041-1,060 of 2,965 for speaker:Robert Dowds

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I thank Ms O'Donoghue and her staff. It is worth saying I very much appreciate the work the Department does because it helps to keep a very significant number of people afloat and also helps to circulate money in the economy. This point is not always sufficiently appreciated. I may get into trouble because of some of the questions I wish to ask, but if Ms O'Donoghue cannot answer them...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: Considering my case load as a public representative, I almost never get representations on child benefit, for example, and I presume that is because the system works very effectively and efficiently. I can see it is a simpler case than jobseeker's allowance, etc., because there is so much change in the area. Does Ms O'Donoghue envisage getting to a stage where the likes of me as a public...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I will ask about rent allowance for people on the housing list. I appreciate it is not dealt with in particular in the information we received over the week but it has come under the remit of the Department from the Department of Health. There are a number of concerns and I would appreciate if the witness could respond to them. Does the Department see itself as just the instrument for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: Is there an argument for putting all that responsibility on local authorities, for example, so that they could become the paymasters? As a result of the way our social housing has developed, many more people are living in private rented accommodation than was the case 20 years ago. The system is not very satisfactory for a number of reasons, although the problem has been dumped on Ms...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I have three related questions on the issue and then I shall move on to another topic. With regard to payments, is the Secretary General aware that some landlords also seek an under the table payment? People in receipt of social welfare are often in the very difficult situation of being in receipt of rent supplement but a landlord may ask for a significant extra payment. Has the Secretary...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I want to make sure I understand the Secretary General correctly. Is she saying that if a tenant feels that he or she is being overcharged he or she should make a formal complaint to her Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I appreciate that. I have a last query on the matter. My party colleague in my neighbouring constituency, Deputy Emmet Stagg, has stated that in certain counties the level of rental assistance for one part of a county is not appropriate for another. Kildare is a good example and the same might apply to Kilkenny. I represent the Clondalkin-Lucan area but the rental assistance in Lucan is...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: How will those issues be addressed?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: Will rent limits be changed in the situations that I outlined?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: How much is spent on rents annually?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: Why the decrease?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: In other words, the tenant had to pay more.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I apologise. May I ask a question on community employment schemes?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: Last year major changes were made to the community employment arrangements, some of which I understand. There was also a great reduction in the amount of money available for what was termed "materials" which in reality was not just stationery and so on. The money was used to pay for fuel, audits and so on. Has the Secretary General a sense of how those changes impacted on the delivery of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: Did that apply to audits also?

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: My question relates to the issues for epilepsy sufferers. Am I correct to think that the Irish Medicines Board has considerable flexibility in that context and, where it has concerns, can direct that particular appropriate medicines be used?

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I thank the Minister of State for going through this in such detail. I hope the Irish Epilepsy Association representatives are listening to the committee's deliberations because they should have good grounds for having their confidence enhanced. The Minister of State has gone to a great deal of trouble to tie everything down and to ensure everybody gets the appropriate medicine. He was...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: It assumes a doctor will write legibly.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (19 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: I wonder why the Irish Medicines Board is changing its name. Deputy Mitchell O'Connor drew my attention to the matter.

Disability Services: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (21 Mar 2013)

Robert Dowds: Like Deputy Maloney I too look forward to a time when rates, in terms of payments, can be restored to people with disabilities and people generally, including those unemployed and so on. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, with whom I have attended meetings with disability groups, on her commitment to tackling disability, which commitment is recognised by all the groups involved....