Results 401-420 of 28,255 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Yes, but between annual reports and all of this reporting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am cynical about a lot of this paperwork. There is so much paper being produced and I do not know if anyone is reading it, or whether it makes a damn bit of difference at the end of the day to performance or anything else. I am not blaming Mr. Jordan; I am blaming us being bound to all these OECD indicators or whatever. It does not make any difference to the person at the bottom of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No, there is no question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: In a simpler world and a different time, I found that the thing that increased your spend was whether all the TDs from all of the different parties in the Dáil said the job was being done right or done wrong. That persuaded politicians that money needed to go in. If you had a strong Minister for Finance, he would put the money where results were being got. They did not need any of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Most of the Department's schemes are demand-led, which means targets are irrelevant. If applicants qualify for a benefit, they will get it. The big issue we encounter all the time is the delay in processing applications. On the other hand, we also find that if the Department is looking for information, it is a case of 28 days or bust. If the information is not provided on time, applicants...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Jobseeker's allowance is two weeks and there is a means test?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Is that for a new claimant coming in?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: How many of those would have means?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: How many of those sanctioned within two weeks have means?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Maybe if we strip it down as we would obviously be dealing with a lot of people who do have means, such as small farmers, fishermen or whatever. Obviously if there are no means, that is very easy. It is when we get into means-testing that we are finding there are inordinate delays.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Mr. Egan is missing my point. My point is that I do not doubt that within the rules the Department has, it is making every effort to fill the places. However, for example, the rules on RSS are much more difficult and less attractive than they were up to 2016. Therefore, my question is, should we look for the rules to be changed so that we make it more attractive? The Department is doing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Department is not able to achieve their target no matter how hard it tries.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I will not go into the full changes we need, I will go into those next week. I will go back to one question and then I am finished. What is the average time for dealing with appeals?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Sixteen weeks. What is the standard deviation around the mean?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: To put it in simple English, an average is there. That is like saying a shop only has one standard size of clothes. It does not work. We are getting cases that are multiples of that. They are up to a year in some cases. Would it be possible to get back to us with how long it takes? The witness is saying-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Four months. Say 20 weeks, 24 weeks, 28 weeks or even if you wanted to put wider gaps, ten, 16, 26, 36, 46, 56, 66 and upwards until we see what we are getting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: If we found that the other remainder will be done in 16 and a half weeks we could say fine, but it is not our experience. Our experience is that are a number of these that are going on and on. People are living in limbo and we need to get those figures. This is the big performance measure on the social welfare schemes. It is time and waiting. It is a waste of the witnesses' time, our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The Department issues general guidelines to a doctor in respect of invalidity and disabilities. They are all very subtle, including carer's allowance and so on. They get those and when they are in a busy clinic, someone comes in looking for a certificate and they have to fill out the form and that is fine. In a lot of cases, it is expecting a lot for someone to come back and check which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Service Performance Report: Discussion (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: We are not getting any queries on illness benefit, I have to say that. We are getting queries on disability allowance, invalidity pensions and carer's allowance.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (26 Jun 2024)

Éamon Ó Cuív: 109. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the accommodation recognition payment to accommodate refugees from Ukraine is taken into account in the means test for fuel allowance or any other subsidiary payments from her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27419/24]