Results 24,801-24,820 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I agree with Deputy Ellis concerning the difficulties he has outlined. If a person cannot get their deposit back and the community welfare officer will not grant a deposit, they can very easily end up homeless. The average deposit is approximately €1,000, but for somebody on social welfare payments that is a fortune. There is no way they will be able to make that up if it is not...
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: There is no doubt that where there are rights, there ought to be responsibilities also. It is a question of finding a balance. I do not dispute the principle of the amendment, but I have some concerns about the responsibility of the State. As we know, there is a dual application process for rent assistance. If somebody out of work discovers he or she must put himself or herself on an...
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: The problem is that there is no provision for backdating. That is how some rent arrears will arise and there is no solution. The State is part of the problem in this regard.
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: One cannot apply for rent assistance until one gets on the waiting list, which may take three months. One must then apply for rent assistance, but it can take up to three months to receive it. It is only after this three month period that one qualifies for rent assistance. Therefore, the tenant may not have been able to pay rent for a period of six months. The State has a responsibility...
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I am broadly supportive of what is being provided for, but I ask about the definition of approved housing bodies and whether voluntary housing associations will be included in that category? Some of them are dysfunctional. I can give the Minister of State an example of where tenants inappropriately ended up in court because the process had been mishandled. I am sure she is aware of some of...
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: Some of them are not disposed to taking on board anything that is of a voluntary nature. The tenants are not the problem; the people running the boards are the problem. I have come across situations where houses could not be insured. It would be a serious matter if we were to lose houses from the housing stock that could not be replaced because of this measure. The softly, softly approach...
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: The Minister of State referred to advocacy groups, some of which I know well and I would be very happy if they were the advocacy groups in this respect, but will they have a specific function in being advocates? The issue may not only be that the person concerned is wheelchair bound but often whether the person concerned can have soft supports, as it were, from his or her neighbours. We all...
- Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (30 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I accept the necessity of these provisions. The key issue is the safeguards in terms of who will make the call on the termination of a tenancy and what engagement there will be with the individual concerned. People will sometimes fight to stay in a particular property, even where it no longer meets their needs. If a tenant is happy with the alternative accommodation offered, there is no...
- Other Questions: Illness Benefit Applications (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: 6. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to any differential rate of refusals for disability benefit between applications when the applicant concerned has a mental health related disability and those who have a physical disability; if she can provide figures for the past three years outlining such refusal rates broken down by the former and the latter; and...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: 3. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm that adequate budgeting has been transferred away or is planned to be transferred away from her Department to accommodate the forthcoming transfer of the new housing assistance payment scheme; if adequate precautions have been taken to ensure a smooth staffing transfer; if she will detail these precautions; if rent caps under...
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: A Cheann Comhairle-----
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: On behalf of the Technical Group, I ask you to exercise discretion to allow us to raise this matter.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I am sorry, a Cheann Comhairle, but I cannot accept that.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: There is adequate discretion available to the Ceann Comhairle.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I have asked the Taoiseach about it.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: Discretion is allowed so as not to gag the Technical Group.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I have tried to get it changed.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: One third of the opposition should not be gagged like this.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I have brought it up repeatedly.
- Order of Business (29 May 2013)
Catherine Murphy: I put it in writing and it was blocked repeatedly.