Results 2,801-2,820 of 5,269 for speaker:Joan Collins

Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: Yes.

Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I should be sharing my time with somebody. I do not know who.

Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill the Minister introduced, though he could have done better. The establishment of the national school system in the 1830s was a tremendously progressive step forward. The Stanley letter of 1831, which is the legal basis of our national school system, contains some core principles for publicly funded, that is, national schools. First, they would...

Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: That is not a good statement to make.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I support the amendment, although not particularly because councillors will see the benefit of it but because a person, if he or she makes a contribution, should receive some social benefit from it. I had Civil Service status when I joined the post office in 1979 and made a class of PRSI contribution that offered no benefits under the social insurance system either. If any amount is paid,...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I wanted to see something in the Bill to help lone parents and piggybacked on the amendment tabled by Deputy John Brady. It is an important amendment. I wish to bolster the argument made for it. Disregarding the Minister's position on poverty levels, organisations such as Bernardos, Social Justice Ireland and SPARK, as well as the Crosse-Millar report, all emphasise that there is a...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I welcome the Minister's point but would like some clarity. He spoke about an independent report, rather than a slight change to the wording, within six months. I am concerned by this as the Minister has only recently had an independent report from Millar and Crosse. The Minister has said that the report was not evidence-based, was not broad enough, it gave too narrow a focus and that it...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I move amendment No. 6:In page 7, between lines 26 and 27, to insert the following:"Report on one parent family payment changes 11.The Minister shall prepare and lay a report before the Houses of the Oireachtas on the financial and social effects of the changes to the One-Parent Family Payment since 2015, taking into account poverty rates among those in receipt of the payment and that the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: Before discussing the substantive issue, I wish put on the record with regard to amendments on pensions on Report Stage that Deputy Clare Daly wishes to state that the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2013 introduced what were called single insolvencies, which allow a profitable private company to wind down their pension scheme and to remove pension scheme members from existing pension...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I listened to the Minister. FLAC will be in contact with him and I will contact it as well. The Minister is saying that, under the EU regulation, customers who are non-nationals must verify their eligibility for child benefit every six months. If that happens anyway, why is he introducing legislation allowing their employers to be contacted as well? In how many cases has the Department...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I am happy to accept that if the Minister will forward us the information in question.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I wish to comment.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: Is that Deputy Smith's amendment?

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: Sorry, I was speaking in the Dáil on the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I will speak briefly on this because I have raised something similar. In an unfair dismissal case, the employer must be made to pay the State and then pay the person who has been unfairly dismissed, but surely the person who was unfairly dismissed and left in limbo for a period of time should not bear the brunt of any unintended consequences. I support the amendment, but if the Minister is...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: I apologise for my absence, I was speaking on the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill in the Dáil. I support Deputy Smith's position. This was raised before with the last Minister and at the time we were told it would be too costly to bring in the homemaker's scheme. There is a huge cohort of women in particular who are affected by this and it must be dealt with. I would appreciate...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: No.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: The back-to-work family dividend has been dealt with, but I was seeking another report on the mortgage interest scheme. Again, it is an issue FLAC and Community Law and Mediation raised. I presume they have contacted the Minister in that regard.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: Section 11 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 amended section 198 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to provide for the closure of the mortgage interest supplement scheme to new entrants in January 2014 and the cessation of the scheme by the end of 2017. The scheme was introduced in the context of the recession, particularly for people who may fall very ill for short...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (17 Nov 2016)

Joan Collins: The mortgage interest supplement scheme probably went on longer than initially anticipated. However, I knew people who were absent from work due to sickness or injury - maybe they had broken an ankle or whatever - for six, nine or ten months and who availed of the mortgage interest supplement scheme to get them over that hump. When they got back to work, they were able to go back to paying...