Results 2,221-2,240 of 10,035 for speaker:Martin Cullen

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: For Deputies with responsibility for the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the people we deal with, this issue, among many others, is always a major concern and we do all we can through our responsibilities in supporting people to meet their needs. As I said, there is an historical problem with the quality of much of the housing stock in both the public and private sectors, and it...

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I have no difficulty working with the other Departments and I have indicated where we are working with them. In 2000, the expenditure on the fuel allowance was €55.5 million and this year it was €167 million so from my Department's point of view the costs have risen dramatically.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: More than 286,000 people benefit from this provision. The other packages cost over €300 million, such as the wider heating supply for electricity in other units in the family home.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: The contribution from my Department to the general area of facilitating people to heat their homes and live a comfortable life is close to €500 million per year, which is a substantial amount of money.

Anti-Poverty Strategy. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: While I accept the problem is not solved, we have come a long way for many of these people through the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government system.

Budgeting Advice. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 106, 146 and 162 together. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, is the main Government funded service which provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. There are 53 independent companies nationwide with over 240 money advice staff operating the service. In 2007, MABS provided services to...

Budgeting Advice. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I am happy to agree with the Deputy regarding MABS and what it achieves. We are both of one mind on that and any of the people who interact with MABS will hold the same view. I intend to put MABS on a statutory footing. I am currently conducting an efficiency review of a large number of organisations. There is a lot of overlapping and complementarity between a large number of...

Budgeting Advice. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I am doing it at the moment. The work is ongoing. I would like to be in a position to complete it this year and have a way forward for MABS. That is the plan. It is significant work. One is dealing with an enormous number of organisations. There is clearly a massive overlap in some areas between the Department and many of the agencies.

Budgeting Advice. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy has asked what I will do in my time. I will tackle it and do something about it.

Budgeting Advice. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: There are some specific reviews taking place but what led me down this path was that I did not just want to look at one or two organisations but rather get a general sense of what is going on, in terms of the role of the Department and the role and remit of the various agencies. I wanted to examine what caused them to be set up, what they are doing and what they are supposed to be doing. I...

Budgeting Advice. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I do not agree with the first point the Deputy made. She is correct in saying that a lot of work was done on MABS and a Bill was almost ready. I have taken the view that it should be put on hold and the Deputy can judge in the months to come whether I am correct. I want to complete this review quickly and put a new structure, statutorily based, around MABS. However, the timing is right...

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Deputy is referring to the research report of the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice titled, Minimum Essential Budgets for Six Households, which was published in November 2006. The partnership is updating the findings of that research to reflect improvements in social welfare and other benefits introduced in budget 2007 or during the course of the past year. A draft of that work...

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I do not agree with the Deputy. The report was published in 2006, is out of date and has been surpassed substantially in nearly all categories by the advancements made in a range of social welfare payments. In recent years, all of the payments have increased ahead of inflation and rightly so.

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I do not expect people to jump up and down with excitement.

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: Payments made across many areas in the social welfare system have been consistently and systematically increased ahead of inflation. It is right that we have done so. The questions posed by the Deputy and many others pick out specific payments, such as the fuel allowance. However, it is my contention that it is better to give everyone something substantial instead of specifying these...

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: The Government's greatest achievement has been in respect of our pensioners, in whom Sinn Féin has no interest.

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: In the past ten years, it may have been the greatest singular achievement of any government in Europe. I reject the Deputy's comments entirely because we have done the opposite.

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: We have actively and positively given financial resources to support people who deserve happy retirements.

Family Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: Why would one give some increases to the small living alone allowance category now when, by comparison, we have considerably improved the situations of all old age pensioners through our substantial increases, surpassing our target of €200 per week and moving towards €300 per week during the lifetime of this Government? Rather than discussing the issue, we will act.

Employment Support Services. (13 Feb 2008)

Martin Cullen: I have no plans to merge the employment support services of FÁS with my Department. My focus is to work with FÁS to complement its work on behalf of people on social welfare payments. A high degree of co-operation and co-ordination exists between the Department and FÁS at policy and operational levels. Both sides operate under a memorandum of understanding that is updated periodically...