Results 4,201-4,220 of 12,701 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I have some sympathy for Deputy Butler's point of view to the effect that in certain cases pressure can be applied or pressure can arise in respect of people looking for a certificate from a doctor. I will set out my experience. The Minister of State remarked that the medical assessors in the Department do not question a diagnosis. I have dealt with several cases. In fact I am dealing...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: Would it not be possible to make a counter argument that the State could actually save money because it would not need the medical assessments in the first place?

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: Would it not be possible to make the counter argument that the State could actually make a saving because it could then dispense with the medical assessors, who are on €80,000 a year?

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I take the point about the time period. There are situations where a shorter period than 12 months should be provided for, exceptional though these may be. I wonder about the rationale behind this section. Every member will agree that it is difficult in practice now to get carer's allowance for whatever reason. I was in touch with the Department only yesterday regarding a case of a...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: Ultimately awarded it.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I do not want to labour the point but I am glad to hear that the percentage of people getting carer's allowance went up last year. These things tend to ebb and flow but that does not answer my point. I would be prepared to bet that many of those successful applicants had to go through the whole gamut from the initial application to the review and, ultimately, to the appeals officer and in...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: As was read out, the presumption was the other way under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act. One was presumed to be entitled unless and so on, but now one is not presumed to be entitled and that can only operate against the applicant.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: The onus has changed.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: There was not a presumption of non-eligibility.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: It looks like there is.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I move amendment No. 9:In page 7, line 26, after “where,” to insert “4 weeks”. Do I take it that this amendment is the one that is not out of order?

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I introduced it to bring a bit of flexibility into the situation. We are talking about people who were in receipt of social welfare immediately before going onto a scheme. Sometimes it can take a bit of an arrangement to get onto a scheme. It might take a week or two after the social welfare payment ceases. I am sure the section, as drafted, probably encapsulates the situation but I...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: My concern is about the use of the word "immediately". I am trying to provide for a time gap in case a person's social welfare ran out and it took him or her a while to get organised and to get on a scheme.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: Okay.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: Under the relevant section of the principal Act as originally drafted, if the Department of Social Protection owed someone money and if it transpired that the individual in question also owed money to it, then one could be offset against the other. Apparently the law was changed to state that when the overpayment by the Department was the result of fraud, then the money involved could not be...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I have an aversion to the idea of someone being deemed to be a fraudster, to have defrauded the Department of Social Protection wilfully, which is one of the worst things one could do on the opinion of one official. I will refer to this on Report Stage. I would make one suggestion to the Minister of State, Deputy Humphreys. When it was introduced, the 15% rule was a maximum. The 15% of the...

Order of Business (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: As the Taoiseach will be aware, the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 was passed last July. Part 2 of the Act which deals with the issue of repossession in the case of anti-social behaviour by local authority tenants has not been brought into effect almost 12 months later. Will the Taoiseach indicate when it will be brought into effect? Local authorities nationwide are being...

Leaders' Questions (25 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: That is a "No".

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Applications (24 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: 161. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when a decision will be made on an application for a jobseeker's allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11174/15]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector Regulation (24 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: 258. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the stated intention of the Bank of Ireland to pay dividends to its shareholders in the second half of 2016, in view of the facts that it consistently refuses to write off any secured debt for bonuses, that it repossessed 200 family homes in 2014, that it forced the sale of another 500, that it is increasing its application for repossessions...