Results 1,401-1,420 of 2,335 for speaker:Joe O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Budget 2023 (19 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: The Government is aware of the challenges facing community and voluntary organisations and the charities sector in meeting the high cost of energy currently and is committed to supporting the sector in meeting these costs. Not-for-profit and voluntary organisations in the Community and Voluntary sector are woven into the fabric of community life across Ireland, but they are vulnerable to...

Seanad: Poverty and Social Exclusion: Motion (19 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I sincerely thank Senators Ruane, Higgins, Black and Flynn for creating the opportunity to discuss the reality of poverty. One of the challenges in tackling poverty is that it is simply not spoken about often enough in public and political discourse. I get relatively few parliamentary questions on it though it is one of the Government's most important areas of action. I am genuinely...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Chairman and the committee members for the invitation to reappear before the committee this morning to discuss the general scheme of the charities (amendment) Bill 2022. I am joined by officials from my Department, including Ms Ciara Bates, principal officer; Mr. Kevin Power, assistant principal; and Ms Niamh Hoey, administrative officer. I have been closely following the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I thank Deputy Paul Donnelly. I listened closely to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL's, contribution at the committee last week. I am to give some reassurance that under the Charities Act 2009 registered charities may engage in activities to promote a political cause provided it relates directly to the advancement of the charity's charitable purpose, is not contrary to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: On Deputy Paul Donnelly's second point I have to be careful. Because the regulator is independent it is important for me, as Minister of State, not to question her decisions and for her to maintain her independence. What I would say is that religion is one of the grounds to get charitable status. How that is defined is reasonably loose. There are common law definitions which, when you...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: It is. We have a budget process every year and the Charities Regulator is under our responsibility for budgeting and financing. It has received a slight increase this year as well but that question has been asked and we have been reassured. On the proposal going forward, while there may be marginal requests for increased funding as the years go on, by and large its budgeting set-up will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: In short, if you are purporting to be a charity and you use that terminology you have to be registered with the regulator. That is the short answer. It depends on how they present to the public.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: It depends on how the group communicates with the public and if it is purporting to be a charity, it would need to be registered with the regulator.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: What the regulator brought to the table last week was an explanation of how her office has been working for many years. The Chair also requested clarity on what is called the enforcement pyramid in terms of the staged level of engagement. An awful lot of energy is spent on education and persuasion and at the top of the pyramid we have the provision for removal from the register. What is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: That is a good question and one I cannot 100% answer. We are actively engaging with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. There are certainly some things that have been raised and that we are working on with the office. There will definitely be changes, particularly in some of the areas we have flagged. I thank the Wheel and the Charities Institute Ireland for their submissions because...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: I may have caused confusion when I listed those three events. They are around notification of changes to a charity's constitution.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Charities (Amendment) Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: On the significant events question, we are looking at other jurisdictions in terms of how they lay that out in language. The Scottish regulator in particular has been sharper in terms of laying that out. We are working on it, is the answer. I understand the concerns that have been raised about how broadly the word "significant" can be interpreted.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (20 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: As the Deputy is aware, Community Employment (CE) supervisors and CE assistant supervisors sought for several years through their union representatives, SIPTU and Fórsa, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme for CE supervisors and CE assistant supervisors who are employed by CE scheme sponsoring...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (25 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: Community Employment (CE) is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis. Participation on the scheme is part time - 19.5 hours per week. Currently payment rates on CE are related to the underlying value of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (25 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: The purpose of the Fuel Allowance payment is to assist households with their energy costs. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. The Fuel Allowance payment is targeted towards those who are more vulnerable to energy poverty, including those reliant on social protection payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (25 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: We are all very conscious of the important role that Community Employment (CE) and other programmes play in our communities. In addition to providing valuable occupational experience and training as a stepping-stone to employment for people who are unemployed, schemes such as CE also provide important and, in many cases essential, services to their local communities. The programme is...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Ukraine War (25 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: My Department has responsibility for the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) 2018 – 2023 that provides funding to tackle poverty and social exclusion at a local level through local engagement and partnerships between disadvantaged individuals, community organisations and public sector agencies. The programme is implemented nationally by 46 Local Development...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Funding (25 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: My Department provides a range of supports which Men's Sheds/Groups can avail of depending on the works being completed. Since 2019, the Community Enhancement Programme (CEP) provided capital funding for community groups which included €0.5m that was ring-fenced under the programme for both Men's & Women's Sheds. The CEP ran again in 2020 and 2021 providing small capital...