Results 22,261-22,280 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The simple answer on this subject that I follow with interest, and I am not speaking ex cathedra anseo, is that the percentage has not changed dramatically. It is a percentage of the number of applications, not of the total number of people in payment. It concerns the number of people who have made new applications. There has been a surge in the number of applications for illness benefit...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am trying to explain the appeals system. I am trying to be helpful to the Senators.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The number of appeals on certain schemes will be higher because there is a greater chance of success and there is a greater level of judgment. In means-tested cases, it is more likely that people did not provide the full information.

Seanad: Medicinal Products (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh leis an Seanadóir as ucht an cheist seo a ardú anseo inniu. I am replying to this debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I am pleased to take this opportunity to outline the position in respect of the matter raised by the Senator. She will be aware that the Minister has met the Irish Thalidomide...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: When I came into the Department I was asked in an interview about my role as Minister. On most occasions the media focus on policy changes and I believe in policy changes, but I have often said that if someone owned a factory which had a good policy but was not producing the goods, the factory would not last very long and it certainly would not give a good service. If someone had a...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We pay 2 million people a week and therefore the numbers we are dealing with are huge. It is fair to say that there has been a huge increase in the customer base, so to speak, in recent years but the Senator can rest assured that both I and the Department are focused on delivery. Part of this Bill, for example, deals with the delays in appeals, which we will come to again, but I also...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: As the Senator will be aware, all regulations are laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas for 21 sitting days after signing. After this 21-day period, they are approved by Dáil Éireann.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I do not need to accept the amendment because it already happens. There is nothing to stop a committee, for example, examining the regulations before the end of the 21-day period. The Senator has got what she seeks in the amendment.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: At present just over 5,300 mothers reside in another EU member state whose partner or husband is either employed in Ireland or is in receipt of a contributory social welfare payment in Ireland. We should put this in context. Total expenditure on child benefit in 2008 and 2009 was in the region of €2.5 billion. If one takes €2,500 and then one puts €1 million after it, we are speaking...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: This comes back to the question of fraud. At times, we underestimate the safeguards we have in our arrangements. As a Deputy I have dealt with social welfare appeals officers for years and the funny thing is that I cannot go near them now. Until I came into this great job I often went to the social welfare appeals office or sent someone from my office. I always found the appeals system to...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: However, we have to have some sanction for the 10% who just do not turn up and when they are made turn up, they refuse training and work. It is not fair on the genuinely unemployed, who are the vast majority. There are people who never seem to be available. The supplementary welfare system and the appeals system exist for those who are really done down and in common with many Deputies and...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The jobseekers' guidelines proved for a person's family circumstances to be taken into account. For example, it may be unreasonable for a person with certain family responsibilities to seek work which involves a considerable amount of travelling time to and from work. Also, while the guidelines for the jobseeker's scheme do not specifically mention child care, it is one of the aspects which...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Why not? He or she might own a dog.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I agree the training provided should be suitable, although there are very few activities in life from which one would not profit. In my own career, having finished a degree, I wound up as a manager of a farmer's co-operative. I have pulled sheep from lorries and also thrown them into them; I have humped bags on my back and done anything and everything that has had to be done, including...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is why one must consider the Bill from here on in its totality. We pay out €4.3 billion in unemployment payments. Effectively, we put it to the people concerned that they can have the payment, but they must be available for work. However, if they do work, they lose it. That is what we say to them in simple English. We spend approximately €500 million on community employment and...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: There is evidence to show family circumstances are affected by unemployment. My life experience informs me that if one creates employment and people get up in the morning with a purpose, it changes their life and they will say as much. That is where we are going with this legislation. If someone asked me to move in that direction without giving me a sanction for the person who does not...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I cannot agree with the Senator who obviously has not read the whole Bill. Commencement orders are involved. One primary purpose of the Bill is to provide for activation. However, it is a question of considering which comes first: the hen or the egg. As far as we are concerned, it is interlocking. As the Senator is aware, the putting in place of the rural social scheme transformed the...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: That is exactly what I will do. That was the purpose of setting up the Department.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: One has to have both.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2010)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We are trying to do something about this and the Senator is opposing it.