Results 2,241-2,260 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: That is fine and I do not want to split hairs with the Chairman. I am saying, however, that this never happened. A charge was made against me and the Government that we were trying to force everyone down a particular tunnel. That did not happen. As I said to Deputy Brady, I do not know what legal advice the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport received but he did not receive legal...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: Why do they have no alternative?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: Does the Deputy have a question?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: When did I do that?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: No, I laughed because Deputy Brady had said that there are only six in the country.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: May I answer the question raised by the Deputy?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: Deputy Brady asked if it is mandatory for people using the naturalisation service to have PSCs. It is not. It is mandatory for anybody applying for citizenship to have a PPS number. The only way to get a PPS number in the State is by going through my Department. We are all aware that the Data Protection Commission has said that I do have the legal basis to make people go through the SAFE...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: The Deputy has made this suggestion with regard to the time when a person, over the age of 18 or otherwise, can apply for a passport and whether it is his or her first passport or one that has expired in the previous five years. For a person to apply online. he or she would absolutely need to have a PSC. How else would he or she identify himself or herself during the online process? During...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: I have not, and I ask the Deputy to withdraw that remark.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: That is a finding with which we do not agree.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: I will respond to Senator Higgins and Deputy Brady. There are 3.2 million active users of the PSC. We probably issued more than 4 million cards. Some may have been lost and therefore some have been issued twice. To say that people were made to get the card is the grossest misstatement that one could have made.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: There are 1.2 million service users-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: There are 1.2 million recipients of social welfare in the State-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: If the members had let me finish the statement, they might not have been prompted to shout at me. There are 3.2 million active users of the card. There are only 1.2 million recipients of services from within my Department. The other 2 million people who have the cards got them for the crack. They just got them because they wanted to have them in their back pocket. I put it to the members...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: -----and it may not be as quick and efficient as it would otherwise be. However, people are not being denied public services outside and above those provided by my Department in respect of which it is a requirement for individuals to undergo the SAFE 2 identification process because they do not have PSCs.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: I have stated on a number of occasions that we do not agree with the findings. I am aware that the Senator and the Deputy very much agree with the findings, which puts them and me at odds. That is a pity. We do not agree with any of the eight findings initiated in the report that was presented to us on 15 August.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: That is the legal advice I have.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: I do not subscribe to Deputy Brady's view that current practices are discriminatory. I have said many times that there are plenty of options for anybody aged under 25 to receive the full payment through training, employment opportunities, community employment, CE, or the youth employment support scheme. There is a wide variety of opportunities. I must correct the Deputy's probable...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: There is no misinformation as it is comprehensive work that is feeding into the next Pathways for Work process, which we will probably launch next year. I appreciate that we are waiting for this for far too long.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (No. 2) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (21 Nov 2019)
Regina Doherty: I would probably get the ESRI to do it for me. It is not my responsibility. The way it was framed last year was probably much wider than I can stick my nose in. I have to be responsible for the people who will be adversely affected from a financial perspective.