Results 1,541-1,560 of 7,412 for speaker:Neasa Hourigan

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (8 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: 140. To ask the Minister for Health if there are exemptions to persons being charged for mandatory hotel quarantine for essential or family reasons; if so, the body to which a person can apply for the exemption; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60620/21]

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: 113. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to ensure employers in the digital gaming sector are adhering to employment legislation following the introduction of the new tax credit for the digital gaming sector announced in Budget 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60353/21]

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I welcome the witnesses and thank Mr. McKeon for attending even though he is not feeling well. I thank them also for the huge body of information they sent to the committee, which contains a large volume of data. My first question relates to the applications and appeals process for more complex applications, such as the disability allowance and the carer's allowance. I have to say, this...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: That is fine. I believe from last year that it was somewhere in the region of 20,000 applications.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I am sorry; I do not mean to cut Ms Gordon off. She is referring to appeals, however.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I have the table of appeals in front of me. I am asking for the number of original applications and not the number of people who have appealed. I presume the figure for original applications is somewhere around that 20,000 figure. Is it correct that would that be the average for that kind of time period?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Exactly. I suppose this comes to the nub of the issue I want to ask about. I would be very appreciative if somebody could perhaps furnish me with that number afterwards. Let us work on the basis that it is vaguely similar year-on-year and we are dealing with a number that is in and around 20,000, and we have an appeals process, let us say, in the disability allowance of between 6,000 and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Would it be fair to say that it is in the region of 50%, for example?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I realise that Ms Gordon is the appeals expert but in the first instance when somebody puts in his or her application, that goes to a staff member in the Department who is not an appeals officer. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Then that person might get a formal refusal and then come to Ms Gordon with an appeal.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay. Do we know as a percentage how many people are refused? Let us say, there are approximately 20,000 applications. If there is a 50% refusal rate, that is 10,000 people. Therefore, there is a shortfall of 3,000 people who do not appeal. Would it be fair to say that figure is in the ballpark?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: Okay. I thank the Department very much for the case studies in the briefing it sent us. The case studies are very helpful but what stood out to me in many of the case studies was the simple fact that people did not supply the correct information or enough information. Would that be fair to say?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I looked back at previous appearances of the Department before the Committee of Public Accounts and I know that is something that has been raised with it before. In terms of the cost to the Department, has it done any kind of review on the unit costing of the service that an appeals officer provides as opposed to an ordinary staff member who is reviewing an application? Is the issue that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I am sorry. Of the 21,000 applications, how many were refused?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I thank the Acting Chairman. Mr. McKeon can go ahead.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Management of Social Welfare Appeals
Chapter 11 - Controls Over the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (9 Dec 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I take that point and I know Mr. McKeon said 12% but I would say that rate of appeal success is significant. I know some of the case studies the Department gave us were quite complex around the interaction with different jurisdictions or the UK or whatever. Where the issue is simply insufficient information, it seems that a review of the unit costing of the appeals process as opposed to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Aligning Disability Services with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Nov 2021)

Neasa Hourigan: I say "Good morning" to our guests, particularly the Minister of State. Her passion for this subject and her grasp of the issues is always very heartening for the committee. There is another area I wish to ask about but I will first pick up on the issues raised by Deputy Cairns. I have a specific question in that regard. Examples have been given of people's lived experience. Every day...