Results 1,801-1,820 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To clarify, the amendment specifically relates to the scheme up to 2020. It is significant, and the two issues are related, but I am not asking for something that does not exist yet. I am simply pointing out that a new precedent has been set. This scheme represents the first time that a threshold of 40 years has been set, which is significant. While I respect the fact that no decision has...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: And moved the requirement overall to 40 years. The Minister told us about some of the issues on the table that have not been decided yet in respect of the total contribution, but two of those ideas are being trialled in this case, which is why it might have been relevant to look at it as a cohort that might provide an example. With due respect, 2020 is only two years away, so it is...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is a concern, and this was an opportunity to address it. Next year is 2019, and the decision will clearly be made then. It was a suggestion that modelling be done. The Minister has said that 70% qualified when the requirement was for 2080 contributions. My question is, of that cohort, how many might have been expected to qualify using the same projection? The provision has not come in...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is important that we are clear for the record of the House, the previous proposals referred to a total contribution. The Minister is correct that the change has been very well flagged. I have read the original proposal which always envisaged 30 years.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With ten years' care credits. The question is whether we are recognising the contribution of carers because if the idea is to add ten years of additional care credit, if we push the goalposts out for everybody to 20 years we are not recognising more care, we are simply pushing the calculation out.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Thirty years has been well signalled. As the Minister said, the debate was happening in the 1990s and in 2010. People can see the signal there for a long time, but we are now at a point where we are one year away from the adoption of a total contribution approach. The idea of introducing a ten-year further contribution at this point clearly has been thought about. That is a concern and...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Both can surely be accommodated.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We can engage further on it.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will not press the amendment at this point.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 3:In page 17, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 263 of Principal Act 27. Section 263 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):"(3) A person shall produce his or her public service card or other appropriate form of identification at the request of a specified body for...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is important to be clear because people might get the impression there was large-scale fraud whereas the figures have shown it is, in fact, at a low level. In fact, according to the figures last year, the amount of money lost internally through error was been higher than the amount of money lost through fraud. It is important to be clear about that.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The public service card scheme has been very high and that has been an issue of concern for the Committee of Public Accounts in terms of excess. As such, I question whether there have been savings. It is also the case that the roll-out of public service cards was intensified during the period in which it was under review by the Data Protection Commissioner. There have been concerns about...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I want to accept one point, which is that I am sorry if I used the words "grave concern" with regard to a body. It is a section 10 investigation on the issue but I would not want to quote or appear to be quoting somebody in respect of grave concerns. The grave concerns are perhaps mine. One thing which I think is important to be clear on is this being compulsory or mandatory. While we may...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It is not simply a voluntary measure. This has been made a requirement. That is why I focused on those other bodies. It has been made a requirement of engagement in society. A photograph is taken which is accessible by 40 or more specified bodies. There is very wide access to that database and I think we will end up returning to it in the future.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I move amendment No. 6:In page 22, after line 33, to insert the following: “Report on jobseeker’s transitional payment supports 32.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report on employment, training and educational opportunities and supports for those on jobseeker’s transitional payment...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I will suggest something that does not necessarily come with a high cost to the State. Income disregard might continue to apply but besides that cost, it does not come with a high cost to the State. It would simply allow the flexibility for an authentic engagement between case workers and lone parents, who are predominantly women, to ensure they do not find themselves on JobPath being told...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank the Minister. There was the question of the extension of the jobseeker's transitional payment.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: With regard to the jobseeker's transitional payment, at the moment when the youngest child is 14 one moves from jobseeker's transitional payment to the live register and jobseeker's allowance. The problem is this does not deal with many of the issues of balancing care with the bureaucracy that comes with having a child for any family, but especially for a one-parent family given there is...

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Every other point has been addressed by the Minister.

Seanad: Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (18 Dec 2018)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am asking the Minister to respond to that point. This has been debated within committee rules.