Results 3,621-3,640 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I have been speaking an awful lot about child poverty, lone parents and people living with disabilities in the two years in which I have been privileged enough to be in this position. They need the attention they would not have been given heretofore. The national policy framework for children and young people, called Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, includes a target to reduce, by two...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I will briefly outline some of the things we have done in the past couple of years that I hope will make a significant impact on the next body of SILC data that emerge, for the end of 2018 and perhaps 2019. The first thing I set out to do was decrease the income disregards for lone parents that had been introduced in 2012. I am happy to say they are all fully reversed. We can still go...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I slightly disagree with the Deputy. While I am 100% behind the fact that child benefit is a universal payment and should remain so, I believe that if we increase it, it will not address the needs of those living in poverty in a really targeted way. It would cost an extensive amount of money and this would, perhaps, stop us from addressing the needs of those living in poverty in a targeted way.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy is killing me now and I will be slaughtered for saying that if we have money this year - it will depend on Brexit, the budgetary context and all that good stuff - I would love to see it go specifically towards increasing the qualified child allowance and target specifically the needs of lone parents and the costs associated with disabilities. I refer to genuine targeting as...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: No.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Yes, that is because we want to activate people and get them real jobs. That is the ambition.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The introduction of a total contributions approach to establishing the level of entitlement for all new State pension contributory claims was signalled by the then Government in the national pensions framework in 2010. At that time, it set a target date of 2020 for the implementation of a total contributions approach, TCA. More recently, the Roadmap for Pensions Reform 2018-23 targeted...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The difficulty is Deputy Curran is asking me to give Deputies the policy before the Government has decided to give me the green light to proceed with the policy. I have to be honest and tell him that I will not be in a position to do what he is asking. However, I will certainly be in a position to give Deputies the heads of the Bill on the day they are published. At that point, I would...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pension Provisions (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The heads of a Bill will go through rigorous pre-legislative scrutiny. As such, the legislation may be changed from the original offering. There are many rounds involved in getting legislation passed. Sometimes legislation does not end up looking like it did originally. Deputies will have ample input and I will value that input to get this over the line. That is what we want to do.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance Fund (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The new scheme for self-employed persons, which I announced as part of the budget last year, will extend social insurance contribution-based benefits to those who are self-employed in circumstances where they become unemployed. This measure is only part of the Government's stated aim of creating what should be a supportive environment for entrepreneurship, including providing an income...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Insurance Fund (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I concur with Deputy Penrose on how difficult it was to satisfy the means test for the allowance that was made available some years ago. That is why the new legislation relating to the new jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed is exceptionally simple. It should be simple. The arrangement should be exactly the same as that for employed persons. The question of how best to store up or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I do not know the answer to the question on the two vacant posts. I will revert to the Deputy on it later today. With my tongue in my cheek, I assure him that the Department of Finance does not know what my expected want is for next year but it will know fairly soon. I will do my very best to ensure we get what we want.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I do not know.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: I have ambitions to do certain things. I hope we will be able to work together to get the support to be able to do them. Again, this is not about my ambitions but about the need to reflect on the two or three areas or groups of people who are most marginalised. I would like to make sure that we set in train a process in the next few years to improve their lot significantly. The issue...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Yes, and any assistance in that regard would be gratefully received.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Employment Service (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The LES and job clubs contracts are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they are fit for purpose in the context of the Irish labour market, as well as providing value for money for taxpayers. Indecon, in its reviews of LES and job clubs published in January recommended that the Department consider the introduction of multi-annual contracts and a competitive...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Employment Service (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: Given that we have not yet designed the tender process, I do not know how Deputy O'Dea can make the assumption that it will be unfair or that the playing field will not be level. The design of the tender process, involving officials in my Department and the stakeholders, is currently in the very early stages. When that design is completed, we will publish it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Employment Service (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy already knows the answer to his last question. Lawyers are a bit like doctors in that they all have differences of opinion. The legal advice that I have been given is contrary to the advice referred to by Deputy O'Dea. As a dutiful Minister, I will adhere to the legal advice that has been given to me.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Employment Service (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: That is who gives us our legal advice.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Employment Service (30 May 2019)

Regina Doherty: We are on a roll.