Results 3,601-3,620 of 12,701 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Other Questions: One-Parent Family Payment (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: The statistics that Deputy Smith adverted to are very simple. The latest figures show that 22%, which is more than one in five, of children of lone parents are living in permanent poverty. It also shows that almost 60% of children of lone parents, which is three out of five, are suffering deprivation. They are deprived of some of the things that make up a decent standard of living. All...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Social Insurance (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: 30. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to change the PRSI system to extend benefits to the self-employed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11905/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Social Insurance (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: I take it from the Minister's reply that he is endeavouring to introduce a safety net for self-employed who fall ill or whose businesses collapse in the same way as employees have the jobseeker's benefit or illness benefit. The tenor of the reply appears to indicate that he will do this on a compulsory basis. I acknowledge that is what the advisory group recommended but I disagree...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Social Insurance (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: I am aware of that. I am also aware of the position as it pertains to employees. On the basis of conversations I have had with a number of self-employed business people and their representatives, they would love the option if the contributions were reasonable. We have produced figures on this. The report the Minister mentioned estimated that to bring in a scheme for illness benefit and...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: 29. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to reform the JobBridge Scheme given the number of criticisms that have been levelled at it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11888/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: I must apologise as I forgot to congratulate the Minister on his new appointment. I would be the first to concede that JobBridge has done a lot of good. Will the Minister agree, however, that interns have been exploited? For example, is he aware of a newspaper study which reached the following conclusions and threw up the following statistics? The largest user of the scheme over its...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: Two wrongs do not make a right. The Minister will be aware that 86 companies were struck off the JobBridge scheme because, quite frankly, they were abusing it. Nevertheless, they were restored because it was found that the procedures adopted to strike them off were unfair. In other words, they were restored on a technicality. Does the Minister regard it as reasonable that five years into...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: They were restored.

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: Yes, and they are back.

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister refers to people going to court because their good names are impugned. If somebody is disqualified from being involved in the JobBridge scheme because they have been found to be exploiting young people who want to get into employment and those who are long-term unemployed, surely they deserve to have their names published. The Minister is using a different excuse than his...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: On a point of order, what does the Minister mean exactly by that statement?

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: National Internship Scheme Review (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister should answer the question he was asked.

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Departmental Legal Cases (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: It is the bureaucracy.

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: The question is self-explanatory.

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Benefit Payments (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: 26. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will provide assurances that receipt of child benefit will not be dependent on school attendance, as outlined in the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11887/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Benefit Payments (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: What I sought to ascertain when I tabled the question was an assurance from the Minister that we would not change the current system and link the payment of child benefit to school attendance. I do not detect any such assurance in his reply. Unless I misunderstood the Minister, he has suggested it is a matter for another Department. Many people are worried about the issue. They are...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Benefit Payments (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Minister for that assurance. It would appear that the long answer is "No" and the short answer is also "No", so we are happy with that.

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Benefit Payments (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: Data.

Leaders' Questions (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: Who was arrested yesterday?

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Rates (25 May 2016)

Willie O'Dea: 39. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to increase working age payments above the rate of inflation similar to the commitment made in the programme for Government that the State pension and the living alone allowance are to be increased above the rate of inflation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11769/16]