Results 2,161-2,180 of 5,732 for speaker:Fidelma Healy Eames

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: This is a fine report. We have found some areas that could be improved. Where do the witnesses go with the information we have shared with them? How will they integrate that into improved practice?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: So the feedback will be incorporated into this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: That is good.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: We have had a good exchange of views and there has been good feedback. What will happen in the context of the feedback we are giving Ms Murphy vis-à-vis the report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Chairman, may I ask a linked question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Ms Murphy flagged a number of concerns that I think the Minister should act on. First, in my view the consumer code should provide information not only on the charges that are being applied but on what should have been charged. It is not good enough to tell people what they were charged; it should give information on what they should have been charged to see whether they paid too much. One...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: With respect, Mr. Morley, that is not sufficient. A person could have had a pension for 20 years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: There used to be such a situation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: If he or she is still in business.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: But if he or she is not still in business, what does the client do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I welcome the panel. This is a fine report. The level of charges is madness and I concur with the comments of Deputy O'Dea. Why is there such a difference? Both levels of charges are huge. Why is there such a difference between 30% on individual pension schemes and 15% on occupational pension schemes? Is it because occupational pension schemes are doing more of the work? What can we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Is there a responsibility on the pension company to let the individual know the charges? If the customer finds out he or she is paying too much, he or she can claim it back. We have a situation with credit card schemes where insurance was taken out for a number of years unknown to the customers. What is the responsibility of the pension company?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Pension Charges: Discussion with Department of Social Protection (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Does it benchmark fees against what the charges should have been? How will the customer know that he or she was being charged too much?

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Former Senator McAleese has done the State some service. His report records a blight on our social history - on the Ireland which we have come from. It showed that more than 10,000 women were committed to the Magdalen laundries, one of which was in Galway from where I come. More than one quarter of these women were referrals made by the State. What is significant about this report is that...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 Jan 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I take the Minister of State's point that when working with children or vulnerable groups, a disclosure of previous convictions must take place although they may be spent. How can one ensure this would not go against a candidate at interview, if possible?

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 Jan 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: That is a fair point.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 Jan 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I appreciate the opportunity to say a few words on the Bill. I also apologise for missing the Minister of State's opening comments. When will the Bill be enacted? I know of a family that has been devastated by a spent conviction not being eradicated. It is a very small public order offence that the then 19 year old son acquired. When he was 30 years old he applied for a visa to Canada to...

Seanad: Local Government Reform: Statements (22 Jan 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I welcome the Minister. I would like to wish the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the Minister a happy new year. I would like to make three points. The aim of this debate should be to ensure we end up with the best possible system of local government in the future. Some of the things I intend to say might not be exactly what the Minister would like to hear.

Seanad: Local Government Reform: Statements (22 Jan 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: I say that just in case, and on the basis of the reaction I have heard already. I have worked with Leader. I value Leader. I think it is doing a great job. A number of things need to happen if we are to merge Leader into the councils. When the health boards were merged into the HSE, we got a dinosaur and a monster that did not work. We are probably about to have that again, unless we...

Seanad: Local Government Reform: Statements (22 Jan 2013)

Fidelma Healy Eames: Hold on. What I am trying to say is-----