Results 2,541-2,560 of 12,619 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: Can the report be published after the Cabinet meeting?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: That is the most prudent approach we could take.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: I move amendment No. 33:In page 13, after line 38, to insert the following new section: “Review of Bereavement Grant 17. The Minister for Employment and Social Protection shall, after the passing of this Act, prepare and lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas reviewing the abolition of the Bereavement Grant and setting out the options for restoring those grants.”....

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: I apologise. I had meant to stipulate a timeframe, but that did not happen for some reason. I can withdraw the amendment and resubmit it on Report Stage with a timeframe. However, I would be interested to hear what the Minister has to say. Further to what Deputy Collins said, death is a sad time for a family and I have come across some very tragic cases. As people are grieving and all...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: Some of them are.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: It is utterly wrong and bordering on the bizarre to say that anybody who is paid social insurance will never have a difficulty in meeting funeral expenses. That is completely incorrect. Many people who are on low wages and already paying social insurance are supported by FIS. A family's circumstances can change. That is absurd. I am afraid a campaign will not do the business. There is...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: What was the figure in the year before the bereavement grant was abolished?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: When was that?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: I am not talking about last year. I am talking about the year before the bereavement grant was abolished in 2011. I would appreciate the Minister getting me that figure.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister might have misunderstood Deputy Brady's point about lack of uniformity, which is staggering. I could guess how certain people in my constituency would be treated by different social welfare officers, depending on whom they go to. There is a very wide interpretation of the rules on hardship etc. I can be more specific about the report I want and can put a timeline on it. We...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: I will withdraw the amendment on that basis and will return with an amendment on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: There is no doubt that fuel poverty is rampant in this country. The figure of 28% is frightening because it is more than one in four. It has been exacerbated by the cuts to the fuel allowance but the partial restoration, however small, is very welcome. I do not know if doing a report on the matter will bring any immediate improvements but I do not see any reason a report would not be done....

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: The report the Minister refers to was prepared under the aegis of another Department. Is that right? I believe it was the Department of energy.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: However, as I understand it, there is no report that specifically homes in on social welfare and the fuel allowance. What the proposer of the amendment has in mind, if I interpret him correctly, is that we have something to show the impact of the cuts on the actual levels of fuel poverty and how much of an impact it would have on fuel poverty on an incremental basis if those cuts were...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: I was about to ask the same question. If Deputy Gino Kenny were to amend his amendment for Report Stage to specify a six month timeframe rather than three, would the Minister be disposed to accept it?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: Perhaps Deputy Kenny might resubmit a new amendment at Report Stage specifying a six month timeframe.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: Just a point of clarification, is the Deputy making a comparison of our rates of employer PRSI as opposed to those in other countries across the EU? To make that comparison, would we not need a similar comparison of workers' rates of PRSI? The employer and the employee pay PRSI. What is important is the combined amount. That comparison would be useful but we would need a comparison of...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2017: Committee Stage (30 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: I would be the first to support it if it was both.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment (29 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: Do I take it from the Minister's reply that if people claim that theirs is a violent or abusive relationship, their word will be taken and that they will not have to produce any documentation, Garda reports and so on? May I take it that will be the position?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: One-Parent Family Payment (29 Nov 2017)

Willie O'Dea: As regards liable relatives in the context of receipt of the jobseeker's transition payment, it does not apply to lone parents in receipt of the payment because the legislation was never changed when the age of the youngest child to qualify for the lone-parent family payment was reduced to seven years. Does the Minister have plans to amend the legislation to provide for this? It makes no...