Results 5,721-5,740 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Has the Department had sight of the interim report at this stage?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Did the Data Protection Commission give the Department a reason for its investigation into the biometric capability of the card?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Or the lack of a legal basis.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: It is more limited.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: We are due to see the commissioner's report fairly soon.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I have noticed that and wish we were not adding to the workload. I will move on to the issue of the classification of workers for PRSI purposes. There are 12 inspectors in the relevant unit in the Department. Is it fully staffed?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Since when have 12 inspectors been in place?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What was the total before that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: There were eight all year.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: How does that unit go about its investigations? Is it evidence-led? Is it targeted at particular industries? What is the rationale for how the unit deals with its work?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The Comptroller and Auditor General stated: "While the misclassifcation rate in those targeted investigations was significant, the results provide no indication of the scale of the misclassification across the economy generally." How would Mr. McKeon expect to deal with that situation? Is the Department dealing with it in a systematic way to allow it oversight on the actual level of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Rather than the general inspections, is there a system or strategy in place intended to get an overview of the misclassification?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Can I just stop-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I will stop Mr. McKeon there. There is no clear definition of "employed" or "self-employed" in Irish or EU law. The UK, for example, has a system that allows people to go in. It is not perfect in that it gives 80% of people an outline of their status. We have not introduced such an approach where it would be possible to do so. Why would the Department not look at examples such as that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The Department can make a determination. Revenue can make a determination as to whether somebody is employed or self-employed. The Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, can also make such a determination. Is there a pecking order involved? What happens if there are two or three different definitions? What is the pecking order? Which is the superior decision-maker?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I am aware of a particular case where one determination was made by the WRC and another was made by the Revenue. How does the Department look at that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The difficulty arises if somebody finds themselves in opposition. It is indeterminate and can be an impediment to that individual. I will leave that aspect there, but I will come back to it with someone else in the future. On the recovery of welfare payments after compensation, is there a plan? Obviously, that it is not itemised in settlements appears to be one of the reasons. If...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: So the legislation has-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I may come back to the Department in respect of this matter by means of parliamentary questions. With regard to the cyberattack on the HSE, a small element of the data would have related to the Department in context of doctors and certificates. Were people or the Department impacted by that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection - Social Insurance Fund 2021
Chapter 10: Regularity of social welfare payments
Chapter 11: The recovery of benefit and assistance payments following compensation awards
Chapter 14: Classification of workers for PRSI purposes (1 Dec 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I am not really asking about that, because I fully understand that as we all dealt with it at the time. I am asking about the risk aspects. When we were speaking to the HSE, we found that there was no identifiable person who had responsibility for oversight in that area. If this something the Department differs in? When we addressed some elements of the issue with data security last year,...