Results 3,861-3,880 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: We were faced with the dilemma of identifying areas where savings of â¬300 million might be made. No one has referred to the fact that the Christmas bonus for 2008 cost the taxpayer â¬223 million. We would have been able to identify savings of â¬20 million or â¬50 million elsewhere but not savings of â¬223 million.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: I am aware that the bonus is only worth a couple of hundred euro to recipients.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: I know how hard it will be for these people. This was probably the most difficult decision the Government was obliged to make in framing the supplementary budget. It is correct to state that we would not have made this decision next November. At that stage, people would have had a reasonable expectation that they would receive the money in December and it would have been completely unfair...
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: We were extremely fortunate that, despite the fact that money was tight, we were able to provide a 100% bonus last Christmas. I accept that the removal of the bonus will make matters difficult for those who require extra money at Christmas. At least in making the decision now, however, we are giving them advance notice.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The saving in the context of the Department's budget will be only â¬156 million. This is due to the fact that provision is only ever made for 70% of the overall figure. We always seek the remaining 30% in September or October. As already stated, however, the overall cost of the bonus last year was â¬223 million. If I could find that amount anywhere else, I would do so. However, I do...
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: We have already set ourselves an increased target on what we are going to save in respect of control and fraud measures. Deputies will be well aware that I have taken this issue extremely seriously.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: We are setting about targeting an additional â¬85 million this year. This is over and above the increase we had already anticipated.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: We had set a target of more than â¬500 million for this year and additional money will now be coming in. There are different ways in which one can tackle control. The first of these is to ensure that a person who is not qualified for payment does not receive such payment.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: Moving the inspectors into the area of processing claims ensured the processing times were reduced and that people received their payments in time for Christmas. It also ensured there was due diligence in processing so that the wrong people did not receive a payment.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: We saved almost â¬30 million more last year than in the previous year but we are setting ourselves an even higher target this year.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: There is no way, despite all our best efforts, that we will get another â¬223 million over and above the â¬580 million. I said on the day of the budget that if there was any sort of windfall, this would be the one area the Government would like to reinstate by Christmas but I do not want to raise expectations. We will continue with anti-fraud measures and controls with our normal...
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: Some of the initiatives introduced in the past year include the scheme established in July where a person must personally turn up in the post office to get the payment instead of receiving the money by electronic transfer. That measure was a success. Another was the certification of child benefit because we are all aware of people who claim child benefit after leaving the country. There...
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: Significant, high profile, successful work has been done to prevent cross-Border fraud, with multi-agency approaches that stopped people from coming across the Border.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The whole country knows at this stage that we succeeded in finding young people under the age of 25 who could get four times more in the South than in the North.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: It also had a strong deterrent effect because people knew they would be caught. They were caught and stopped. The increased controls were a success. Recently photo identification has been asked of those who are collecting to ensure the right person is getting the payment. Social welfare inspectors are working in the Garda National Immigration Bureau in the airports to check people coming...
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The message has clearly been sent out that we clamp down on fraud and we make savings. We will continue to prioritise control savings within the Department so we do not have to make the type of difficult decisions we had to make in the last budget. The dependence of people on social welfare payments was mentioned and I accept that. There are people who are losing their jobs, lone parents,...
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: They can use that for extra heating in December, January and February - they are free. The household budget package amounts to â¬540 a year for those people. It is in place for them but they are not using it. Perhaps I can encourage people not to be afraid to use what they have.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The motion refers to the possibility that people might turn to moneylenders at Christmas. There is not much evidence that there is a greater incidence of people turning to moneylenders, although I accept there is a danger it will happen at any time when people are vulnerable. That is why the money advice and budgeting service, MABS, exists to give advice to people about budgeting. More...
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: The service is of assistance to people. If people have a credit problem with a utility provider, it can be dealt with. People are coming around to an appointment system so there is no reason for people to feel more vulnerable. These are difficult decisions.
- Social Welfare Benefits: Motion (22 Apr 2009)
Mary Hanafin: I would much prefer to be a Minister for Social and Family Affairs who could give the sort of increases we saw over recent years. It was a lovely position to be in during the budget before Christmas to be able to give such increases, although they were less than in previous years. They were still substantial increases that people did not expect. We certainly did not want to reduce those...