Results 20,681-20,700 of 35,894 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Health: Orthodontic Services Waiting Lists (2 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: 358. To ask the Minister for Health when it is expected that a person (details supplied) in County Donegal shall receive an appointment for orthodontic treatment; if consideration will be given to a request to permit this person to access the necessary treatment abroad under the cross border directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32959/16]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Aquaculture Licence Applications Data (2 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: 385. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details, including the application reference number, the site address and name of applicant, of all live applications for aquaculture licences currently being considered in County Donegal, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32658/16]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Environmental Impact Statements (2 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: 397. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of occasions on which an applicant was not required to submit an environmental impact statement to accompany an application for an aquaculture licence, pursuant to and since the introduction of the aquaculture (licence application) regulations 1998, by year, in tabular form; if the application relates to marine-based...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Recycling Policy (2 Nov 2016)

Pearse Doherty: 407. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there is a limited number of public recycling facilities for plastics at recycling points located throughout County Donegal; the measures being taken to increase the prevalence of such facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32533/16]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I am delighted the committee is dealing with my legislation. I am also delighted my Bill, and the important issues it covers, has passed Second Stage and will now proceed to Committee Stage. Today, we are dealing with pre-legislative scrutiny and I welcome the opportunity to do that. I thank Members across the political divide who have unanimously supported the passage of this legislation....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: That is a very sensible proposal and one with which I would like to engage. I welcome the opportunity to engage with officials after the report of the committee has been published. Let us hear what the witnesses have to say and how the committee feels afterwards.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I am in a unique situation, because we are dealing with the pre-legislative scrutiny of my Bill. I want to take the opportunity to ask a number of questions which will inform the committee's report on the Government's proposal. I will focus on a major difference between the two Bills. While the timeframe for both Bills and the current rules on appealing to the Financial Services...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that we are only dealing with the principles. It is an area about which we are concerned and will have an opportunity to discuss with the ombudsman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I refer to the section on the right to complain to the ombudsman. The new three-year provision will apply to long-term products, yet there is no definition of "long-term product" in the heads of the Bill. There is a definition of a "long-term financial service", which is defined as one that "exceeds 6 years and is not subject to annual renewal". I take it that the product will be the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: That definition is of a financial service but the right relates to a financial product. Is there a difference? Does there need to be a definition of a financial product? Does financial product need to be defined in the same way as services are defined?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: In terms of the phrase "annual renewal", what would that exclude? Let me phrase this differently. What products or services could be sold to consumers that are not renewed annually?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I thank the Minister for the clarification. Let us stick with house insurance because it is renewed annually. Many consumers, for right or wrong, will take out house insurance with a company when they buy the house and usually it will be renewed. They will have set up a direct debit. It is like car insurance. If the letter is ignored, the disc will arrive in the post and the direct...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that. There are issues in our legislation but we teased them out with the Minister on Second Stage and will tease them out with the different witnesses who will appear before us. There is no need to rehash those differences at this point in time. The last thing I wish to raise concerns the current legislation. The chairperson of the council must be chosen from the members...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister might correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is that there is no requirement in terms of the mix of the council and the number of persons required to have consumer experience regardless of who fills the position of chairperson. Is that something that could be addressed in the legislation as it is progressed? Does the Minister have a view at this stage on whether there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I understand that. However, from the point of view of a body that, in my view, is concerned with consumer protection, although financial institutions can also take a case to it as well, the requirement seems very light, particularly in light of the fact that the chairperson will no longer be required to have a consumer interests background. It is something we can examine as the legislation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I mentioned in my opening remarks that this is one of the big areas where we have a difference of opinion. I acknowledge what has been said by the Minister and the potential consequences that could flow from an appeal to the Circuit Court. I am not dismissing that. I am not fully sure that we can get around this. For example, if an appeal was made based on a point of law could the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the two presentations and thank the free legal advice centres and the Office of the Ombudsman for the consultation in which they engaged on this Private Members' Bill. To focus on the statute of limitations and the six-year rule and deal with the timeframes available, my Bill proposes a timeframe of two years from the point at which the complainant becomes aware of the conduct of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate that and I am happy to hear Mr. Deering say that he would be happy if it remained. Obviously, the focus is on the six-year rule, but we also need to deal with the detail of it. I asked the Minister how we would determine that a person ought to have known there was inappropriate conduct by the provider. It will fall to the Financial Services Ombudsman to make that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I have a question mark over this "ought to have known". In that case that is when the consumer actually knew there was an issue, as opposed to "ought to have known". When is the point that they ought to have known? That is a really grey area where the provider could argue that the buyer signed the document and saw the terms. They may have been grey and not very understandable to a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Bill 2016 and Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (27 Oct 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Deering is making a very strong argument for deleting the reference to "ought to have known" and just leaving "have known". If that is the way these are to be adjudicated, there is no reason to have "ought to have known" in the legislation. If it is the case that it is when they have found out that in their view they have been mis-sold a product, then it should be left to when they...