Results 4,141-4,160 of 5,269 for speaker:Joan Collins

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: Currently, there are 100,000 people in mortgage crisis. A recent report on local authorities indicates that they are also experiencing a crisis in respect of home loans. The Minister's response is to cut the mortgage interest supplement, which is assisting people in keeping their heads above water. As regards the Minister being a wonder-woman, which comment the Minister welcomed this...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: Once again I will bring the Minister back to 2010 when she said:The experience of past recessions shows the legacy of the past three years will be long-lasting. Unemployment at an early age can leave permanent scars. Many studies have shown that someone laid off during a recession suffers an earnings loss even when he returns to the labour market. He [or she] returns to less well-paid...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: The Minister also said that having compared IMF deals for other countries she cringed for the small humiliations included entirely unnecessarily in the Irish deal. She thought that the Government ought to have had the courage to at least say "No" to a few of those. Will the Minister please say "No" to a few of these cuts?

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: I oppose this section. I cannot understand how the Minister could include this cut. There is no point in comparing small figures. A tax of 0.5% on the assets of the wealthy would yield €250 million. This is according to the Nevin Economic and Research Institute, NERI, and TASC, not me or anyone else. This is a fact. I wish to quote the Minister from 2010 when the late Brian...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: In just two years, the Minister has cut child benefit to €130. She cut it last year and is doing so again this year.

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: The Minister is part and parcel of the cabal that has brought this country to its knees in the past ten years. I urge her not to dismiss the Opposition, but to listen to the people who need this money. A mother or someone who is adopting a child needs that support of nearly €900, but the Minister is unilaterally cutting their heads off in terms of bringing their children up in a good...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: The Minister and the Labour Party have repeatedly claimed that they have protected core welfare payments. The Minister did so again today, claiming that the basic rates of core payments would not be changed. This is a narrow interpretation and does not stand up to scrutiny. I presume that, for a Labour Minister, the core welfare payments are the jobseeker's benefit and allowance, the old...

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: They have suffered under Fianna Fáil and the current Government in the past six years - cuts in home help hours, the abolition of the Christmas bonus, last year's €20 million cut in the fuel allowance, cuts to household packages, including telephone allowances, and increased prescription charges. Many elderly people who live alone in isolated communities use their landlines for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: General Scheme of Gender Recognition Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: I will not take too long. I thank the witnesses for attending. Everyone I heard has put forward a profound argument that the legislation is falling down in two or three key areas. Today, the point was made about sport as well. That is an issue I had not grasped. Hormones can arise as an issue. Perhaps Dr. Crowley could respond on access to sport in the context of preferred gender. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: General Scheme of Gender Recognition Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: I have another question for Dr. Crowley. All cases must be backed up by medical support based on young children beginning to realise they are not happy in their skin. What sort of medical provisions must be put in place and does the HSE have the ability to do it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: General Scheme of Gender Recognition Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: I apologise for intervening but will Dr. Philip Crowley not be making a presentation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: General Scheme of Gender Recognition Bill 2013: Discussion (23 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: Can it not be changed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: General Scheme of Gender Recognition Bill 2013: Discussion (23 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: I will not take long because most questions have been asked about the legal issues and there is no point in my repeating them. I thank the witnesses for attending. I work off my gut instinct and when something is right, I know it is right. From recent meetings and from talking to people I am aware of the reality of the situation and it is for society to address the reality rather than...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local and Community Development Programme Staffing (23 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: 3. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on whether, given that local development companies are almost exclusively funded by State money, his Department is acting as shadow employer in view of the changes alignment will bring about for workers; his views on whether there must be meaningful engagement between workers' representatives and his Department...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local and Community Development Programme Staffing (23 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: I thank the Minister for his reply. I have raised in this House the issue of access by workers to proper representation in terms of the affects of alignment on their jobs. There has been no consultation with workers. While a meeting was held between workers and departmental officials, as stated, no further progress has been made. When I last raised this issue with the Minister during the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local and Community Development Programme Staffing (23 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: There must be.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local and Community Development Programme Staffing (23 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: The point is that it is not. There is a serious problem in this regard. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, initiated the alignment of the local development companies and has instructed them to move in a different direction. It is incumbent upon him as Minister, in seeking to change how these local development companies operate, to insist that worker representatives are recognised and heard and...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Card Applications (22 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: 492. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding a medical card in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12. [44159/13]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Sexual Offences (22 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: 502. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the recent Crime and Abuse Experienced by Sex Workers in Ireland - Victimisation Survey carried out by UglyMugs.ie which found that only 5.5% of indoor sex workers who had experienced crime received any useful help or support from the women's health project; if he is concerned that these findings indicate the project is...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Services for People with Disabilities (22 Oct 2013)

Joan Collins: 536. To ask the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6 is entitled to funding from the Health Service Executive. [44438/13]