Results 1,301-1,320 of 2,335 for speaker:Joe O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: My department operates a number of employment support schemes which assist communities across the country in the provision of vital services. Currently, there are some 27,000 participants engaged on the three main schemes: Community Employment, Tús and the Rural Social Scheme. Community Employment is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Food Poverty (14 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: The Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020 – 2025, which was adopted by Government and published in January 2020, includes a commitment to ‘Develop a comprehensive programme of work to further explore the drivers of food poverty and to identify mitigating actions’ (Commitment 61). The Food Poverty Working Group, which I chair, was established in April 2021 and aims to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: The Department of Social Protection provides activation support programmes for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. The aim of the CE and Tús programmes are to enhance the employability of disadvantaged and long term unemployed people by providing work experience and training opportunities within their communities. In addition, RSS is an...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (14 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: As the Deputy will be aware an Intergovernmental Departmental Review (IDG) Report on employment support schemes recommended that a review be undertaken of the operational responsibility for RSS.  It was also intended that this would include a review of the impact of the six year time limit for participation on the scheme - the so-called six year rule which was introduced in 2017. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Chairman and the committee members for the invitation to attend to discuss the general scheme of the charities (amendment) Bill. I appreciate the flexibility they have shown in rescheduling today's session. I thank the Chair for his good wishes. I am joined by officials from my Department, including Bairbre Nic Aongusa, assistant secretary, Kevin Power, assistant principal, and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I am aware of the issue of secretaries potentially being trustees as well. We have a bit of work to do on that, but the bottom line is that trustees should not be remunerated for their role as trustees. There are exceptions to that but the regulator will require to be notified and requested for exceptions like that. We have a little bit of work to do around teasing that out but it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I have answers on some points but not on others. I take some points on board, such as the point about membership needing to be clarified. On head 7, regarding documents missing, much of the intention is that there are intermediate sanctions that can be used as well. At present, the regulator has very blunt instruments. A lot of the time it is the nuclear option or nothing. Members will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: Broadly speaking, there will be three categories of threshold. At present every registered charity has to submit an online annual report form. When its income or expenditure goes over €10,000, there is a higher requirement. We propose to raise that threshold to €25,000 because research has shown that the organisations under the €25,000 income line are largely...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: We estimate that the middle income category of €25,000 to €250,000 includes 2,500 charities. I take Deputy Conway-Walsh's point about the threshold. As for her broader point about volunteers, I have responsibility for volunteering policy as well and I think that when people think of volunteering, many of them think of the front line and visible volunteers. I am always at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: In accordance with the categorisation of reporting we have, I would guess that most of the organisations will hit the top one, but they will be required to submit fairly detailed accounts to the Charities Regulator annually now. That is good for oversight and transparency. It had not been there before.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: No. By the nature of their roles, they have to be separate and independent entities. To clarify, the secretariat is supplied by the Department but they are separate entities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I will work backwards on that because the Bill provides that an individual who is doing this now would be committing an offence. Previously, groups of individuals that were not organisations were going around purporting to be organisations. The Bill proposes that if in an individual is discovered doing so, he or she is committing an offence. That will improve things. It will not solve the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I believe it relates to section 93.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: The issue we have with that is that An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice have been consistent in their response that they do not have the capacity to enforce the amendments. In response, the Charities Regulator has created guidelines for charitable organisations and fundraising from the public to address issues around fundraising for charities. We are told consistently...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: Is the Chairman referring to where a charity subcontracts a private operator to do this? I am just trying to pin it down a bit first.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I am trying to tease this out a bit in my head. You have got a private operation that may be potentially misleading a private citizen about what they are selling to them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (6 Jul 2022)

Joe O'Brien: My concern always though is what is happening with the public money. The charity is buying advertising, which it is entitled to do-----