Results 4,801-4,820 of 12,590 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: Blather.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: We are feeling neglected.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: Delighted.

Order of Business (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: The Taoiseach will recall that he promised nothing less than a constitutional revolution. Two weeks ago I asked him about the following commitment in the programme for Government: "We will also deal with the related problem of legislation being shunted through at high speed and will ensure that Dáil standing orders provide a minimum of two weeks between each stage of a Bill". When I...

Leaders' Questions (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: It was €3 billion less than the Taoiseach would have paid.

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: The report was submitted to the Government in May of last year. It is now approaching its first birthday and the Government is still reflecting. The recommendation was specific, that change be made to provide that at least those who take the risk to go into business for themselves and who become incapacitated as a result of developing a long-term illness should be brought into the social...

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I asked whether it could be done on a voluntary basis.

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I do not agree with the notion that a voluntary system would not work. Voluntary systems have been put in place in other countries and they are demonstrably working. I refer the Minister to the section of the report where the group discusses the attitude of some social welfare officials to the self-employed when they claim jobseeker's allowance. Among certain sections of the Department of...

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 7. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the progress made to date to broaden the social insurance system to include the self-employed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10445/14]

Other Questions: Social Insurance (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: This issue arises from the fact that a report submitted to the Government in May 2013 recommended certain changes to make more benefits available to the self-employed under the social insurance scheme. Has any progress been made on that?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: An internationally accepted standard regards the poverty line as equivalent to 60% of average income in a society. Anyone below that level is judged not to have sufficient on which to live with a reasonable degree of dignity. The latest available figures which I agree are dated show that at least one in six people - almost 750,000 people - was living on an income below that level, or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: The medical card has been valued at approximately €1,000 a year, which means that a single adult on the ordinary rate of social welfare is just on the poverty line. Does it not strike the Minister as curious that of the member states of the European Union, apart from Ireland, the last to publish this statistic did so last October, while we are still waiting? I take her point that the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I have been reading the detailed information collated by the CSO, including numbers of animals. Does the Minister think it is reasonable that we know the number of goats in County Kerry in 2012, whereas we do not have information on the number of people who were living below the poverty line in Ireland in 2012?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 4. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the percentage of the population who live below the poverty line, measured as 60% of the median income; the actions she is taking to reduce this number; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10612/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Poverty Data (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: This question arises from the latest statistics which show that at least one in six people in Ireland live below the internationally accepted poverty line. The Government is committed in its programme for Government and both parties' election manifestos to reducing the incidence of poverty in Ireland. I am anxious to know what progress the Government has made.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I do not understand what the Minister is at here. She seems to be suggesting that the reason for this change, which was brought in through the back-door and not publicly announced, is to encourage people to go to the larger stores and get the stuff cheaper. Basically, however, this is a cost-saving measure. Will the Minister tell us how much she thinks the Government will save off the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 1. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to explain the reason for abolishing the diet supplement scheme; the number of persons who will be affected by the abolition; the savings that will be made from the decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10611/14]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: This question arises from a recent announcement on the website of the Department of Social Protection to the effect that this allowance which has been payable since the early 1990s and which was designed to assist a small group of people to purchase food which was medically necessary for them has been withdrawn.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Payments (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: What the Minister is saying, essentially, is that we are moving from a situation where people are entitled to the allowance to one where it will be paid entirely at the discretion of the local social welfare official. What the Minister did not say, although I had included it in my question, was how much per annum the Government envisaged it would save through this measure. Two groups are...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Placements (5 Mar 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 14. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of JobBridge participants that have been employed by her Department; the number of JobBridge participants that have gained full employment in her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10444/14]