Results 6,001-6,020 of 8,245 for speaker:Bríd Smith

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: Can Mr. McKeon explain the sanction system then?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: The year 2011 is six years ago. There has been a massive increase.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: That is fair enough. It was introduced in 2011 at the height of chronic unemployment in the country and there was 359 sanctions but last year when we are nearly out of the unemployment crisis, it was 16,451.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: Mr. McKeon said that in his introduction but I contend that that increase in sanctions shows that this is about sanctioning the unemployed rather than helping-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: -----particularly when we have a high level of employment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: I am careful but clients have come to me that the system is not careful with them. I refer, for example, to a Syrian man with very poor English, who has attained residency here, has been told to attend a course on medical devices and has to travel from the far side of Blanchardstown to Sandyford every day, three hours each way. He is struggling with the course because his English is poor....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: It is an unreasonable request in anybody's book given his poor language skills. Is the Department at all concerned that the companies involved, particularly Seetec, which runs the JobPath scheme, may head down the road shown in the film "I, Daniel Blake"? In Britain, 1 million people on disability allowance have been brought into the scheme's remit and the Department of Health and Social...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: Is Mr. McKeon saying the Department will not change?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: It is a possible policy position for the future. Given that it happened in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, would the Commission not tell us to be good boys and take people with disabilities into this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: I will quote back to Mr. McKeon that he said it was a bad policy decision if that decision is ever taken. Is the Department concerned at all at the type of jobs people are going into from the operations of Seetec and Turas Nua? Earlier, Mr. McKeon spoke a lot about catering, the hotel industry and the hospitality industry. Report after report shows that workers in these sectors are the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: I have one more comment. The witnesses keep mentioning the Safe Pass as an example of what they do to train people. Will they go beyond the Safe Pass and list a few more examples of decent training which people get?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: EU Employment Legislation and JobPath: Discussion (Resumed) (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: The pay levels do not concern the providers.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: 78. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his definition of affordable housing; the number of units he plans to provide in this category in the next period; the way in which these units will be delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19837/18]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: 51. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of newly built social housing units built directly by local authorities in 2017; the way in which this figure is in line with the stated goal of solving the housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19836/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: 280. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention was drawn during court proceedings to the HSE legal strategy regarding a case (details supplied) against clinical pathology laboratories; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19738/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: 281. To ask the Minister for Health if he or officials from his Department had meetings or briefings with officials of the HSE regarding the tests conducted by clinical pathology laboratories; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19739/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Screening Programmes (8 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: 282. To ask the Minister for Health when his attention was drawn to the scale of the failures regarding the tests conducted by clinical pathology laboratories; and when his attention was drawn to the HSE legal strategy in a case (details supplied). [19740/18]

Leaders' Questions (3 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: We know many things in advance of an inquiry starting. We know that Clinical Pathology Laboratories, CPL, tried to gag Vicky Phelan but she would not acquiesce. CPL is the sister company of MedLab in Sandyford and we are still using it to screen women's cervical tests. Even if we accept the bona fides of the Minster for Health, Deputy Harris, in regard to not knowing about this issue,...

Leaders' Questions (3 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: It is not part of the Department.

Leaders' Questions (3 May 2018)

Bríd Smith: The Department yesterday stated it had the information in March.