Results 3,781-3,800 of 5,269 for speaker:Joan Collins

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: The payment was stopped for four weeks.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: The issue has been well ventilated.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: The Minister made a point about fraud. We have had this debate previously. I believe the Minister places an over-emphasis on fraud and that it is not as bad as she suggests. The vast majority of people are not trying to devise ways to defraud the system. While I have no problem with including mechanisms to reduce the possibilities for defrauding the State, a significant proportion of the...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: We are all clear on that. An Post won the contract but it won it under the terms of the current legislation. Why does the Minister need to change it now? On the question of the time allowed for the submission of amendments-----

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: We have raised issues about how that tendering process should support organisations such as An Post because it provides the service through its post office network throughout the country. I am not convinced by the Minister's argument. Perhaps the option of "payment service provider and/or An Post" could be examined again. There is also an issue with the time allowed. Larger parties have...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: I do not know whether I have to but I will declare before the debate that I was a post office clerk and a member of the Communications Workers Union.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014: Committee Stage (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: I fully support the amendments put forward by Deputy Ó Snodaigh. The fact that An Post has been omitted from the 2005 Consolidation Act is the key thing. An Post should be allowed remain in the legislation in order to allow for the continuation of the Consolidation Act. An Post, as a potential service provider, should not be taken out of the legislation. I have said a lot on this...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medicinal Products Availability (11 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: 142. To ask the Minister for Health the reason a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12 cannot access a drug called Daxas, a very effective medication for their chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, on their medical card. [24848/14]

Other Questions: State Pensions Reform (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: It is great to see 17,000 pensioners living longer and having a productive working life. However, the point I am making is that the Minister's changes in September 2012 disproportionately affected women, especially older women, and the evidence supports this.

Other Questions: State Pensions Reform (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: 87. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to address the unfair and disproportionate impact that the change to the PRSI bands has had on women's pensions and, in particular, low-paid female workers. [24126/14]

Other Questions: State Pensions Reform (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: In April 2012 the pensions policy officer of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, met representatives of the Department of Social Protection and was informed that it accepted congress's assertion that those with an average number of 29 annual contributions stood to lose €1,500 a year for life from next September. This is a grossly inequitable cut which targets a section of the...

Other Questions: State Pensions Reform (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: In April I tabled a question in which I asked the Minister to provide a rate band analysis of all State pension contributory awards since 1 September 2012, broken down by number of awards, gender and percentage of overall awards. Her reply contained a tabular statement which was quite detailed and showsed that 27% of those in the 20-29 rate band were female and that 8% were male and that 9%...

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Applications (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: 86. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she is satisfied with the processing times for current social welfare payments that require a medical assessment. [24201/14]

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Applications (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: The Minister is probably aware of the long period of time it takes for the processing of claims for social welfare payments, particularly for people seeking a disability or invalidity allowance, whether they are agreed or refused. Almost everybody who comes to my office in regard to this problem has been waiting six, seven, eight or nine months or even longer for the claim to be dealt with....

Other Questions: Social Welfare Benefits Applications (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: The Minister may be satisfied that she has cut the processing times down from what they were two years ago, but there are still people coming to my office who have been waiting longer than that. This happens in particular when the Department comes back to the person seeking another letter from the doctor or more medical evidence in regard to the claim and application. Recently, we found we...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: That service should be set up where it is needed throughout the country. Even if it is not necessary now, it will be needed very soon. This is not just a phenomenon in Dublin; it has happened in Cork and other urban areas. The Minister should immediately instruct community welfare officers and inform local representatives and the local authorities that if a problem arises where somebody...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: I put it to the Minister that it is not a question of supply but of landlords increasing rents to a level that people receiving rent allowance cannot pay. It is also due to many landlords specifying "no rent allowance" or "work references only". That is a form of apartheid towards unemployed people who need rent allowance to secure private rented accommodation. I am glad to hear the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: 83. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the mechanism her Department has in place to respond to a family or persons facing eviction from private rented accommodation because a landlord is increasing the rent. [24276/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: The Minister is aware there are now more families being forced to become homeless because of the increase in private rents around the city, particularly in my area, Dublin 12, where rents have gone up by some 14% to 16% in the past six months. We are trying to manage a situation where people are coming in to us, saying their rents have been increased and they cannot get anywhere else because...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (10 Jun 2014)

Joan Collins: 96. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to deal with the increases in rent prices in urban areas as they relate to persons on rent allowance. [24199/14]