Results 19,721-19,740 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: We have not received any apologies. Members participating remotely are reminded of the requirement to do so from within the precincts of the Leinster House complex. I ask members and witnesses to please turn off their mobile phones or ensure they are in silent mode. I ask members of the committee who are participating remotely to use the raise-hand icon on Microsoft Teams if they wish to...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: I thank the Minister. We will now go through the Estimate programmes as set out in the table of contents in the document the Minister circulated to members. The first programme is pension programme No. 2 on the table of contents.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: We move on to chapter 3, working age income supports programme. Do any members have questions on that?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: Does the Minister mean 2023?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: I thank the Minister. It is on our work programme to respond to her in that regard.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: Does any other member want to come in on chapter 4? I know Deputy Ó Cuív and the Minister of State have jumped ahead.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: That is very welcome all round.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: Does the Minister wish to add anything?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: I know Deputy Ó Cuív wants to come in, but I have one question for the Minister. There was a plan under her predecessor, former Minister, Senator Regina Doherty, to look at the cohort of people on disability payments to see how we could engage with them and get them involved in employment and workplace participation. The Minister spoke about the Social Insurance Fund and how it...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: The Deputy is going to announce his candidacy for Europe.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: The Minister might help the Deputy when he goes banging on the doors in the area.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: The Deputy might provide the Minister of State with the information on that case and he can look into it. Did the Minister wish to add anything?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: I thank the Minister. We will move to chapter 5, which relates to illness, disability and carers.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: On that, before the Minister responds, we are all now getting these responses far more frequently, and the individual is then excluded from getting the partial capacity payment. That comes back to the point I made about allowing people with a disability back into the workforce. They are locked out of the ability to do that without having an invalidity pension. Maybe the Minister could...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: That is my experience too. We are now coming across cases in which people are denied invalidity pension which historically would have been approved by the Department but now it is coming back with this clause that they could do some other work - I have one such case on my desk as we speak - which was not the case until relatively recently.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: May I ask about long Covid? As the Minister will know, I have raised this issue with her on a number of occasions. Prior to Christmas she gave a commitment to explore the issue of defining long Covid as an occupational illness for front-line workers. The Minister might update the committee on the progress she has made on that, particularly in the context of both the Social Welfare Bill and...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (1 Feb 2023)

Denis Naughten: Those figures are not accurate based on the figures that have been provided to me. Before Christmas, we had 1,475 who were in receipt of illness benefit for at least three months after they had transitioned from enhanced illness benefit. Those figures are way short of the figures that have been provided to me in parliamentary questions. The Minister might come back to the committee with...