Results 601-620 of 5,727 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: This is a very useful engagement because it is very useful to tease these issues out. Generally, I very much accept and believe what the Department is stating in terms of the objectives here in ensuring that the low rate of people with disabilities entering into employment is increased by the provision of supports, that no one will see a reduced payment and that the objective is not cost...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Before we move on, can it be said that, allowing for demographic changes, we will be looking at a broadly comparable number of people in receipt of payments in five years’ time?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank Mr. Hession. I will not go so far as some members and say I support this, but I will approach it with an open mind. I am listening as much as I can and will be engaging with as many people as possible. Two places where the tyre hits the ground in terms of people’s concerns are assessments and what happens if they do not engage with Intreo and other work supports. I will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: That sounds like a very significant increase in the number of medical assessments. Currently, there is a gate in and there is no categorisation into what would be tier 3, so I imagine the increased number of assessments would involve considerable recruitment. Is that fair to say? Surely, the capacity to do this does not exist currently.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank Dr. Singh. That information is useful. To give the witnesses the opportunity to nail it down, can they categorically say that medical assessments will not be outsourced?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I thank Dr. Singh. I will revert to my initial question. Under the Green Paper, people in level 3 "will have to engage with the Intreo Public Employment Service and take up reasonable offers of places in training and employment programmes, and take up employment opportunities that are appropriate to their capacity and circumstances." If we shortened that sentence without changing the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: To be fair, there is a distinction between the policy as set out tomorrow morning for current claimants, new claimants and so on and the application of the policy. Its application could have implications for somebody who fails to engage. If there is to be an expectation of work, that has to be measured. For the first time, some element of stick is being introduced in respect of people on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Mr. Hession is probably not in a position to address this today as it probably requires further discussion. However, the Department needs to make the position very clear. People are capable of bringing things to their logical conclusions. If there is an obligation, is there a sanction? If there is a sanction, what is that sanction? If there is none, is it the intention of the Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: More thought needs to be given to that because there is a long distance to travel between the philosophy and high-minded discussion that happens here and the thinking in six or seven years’ time of a Department employee with clear instructions or protocol to be followed regarding somebody in an Intreo office in Wexford or Letterkenny. I am trying to pick out what comes after steps...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Good. I am pleased to hear that. My next question follows on from the witnesses’ dialogue with Deputy Ó Cuív and people in tier 3. Actually, I had one further question on the medical assessment side of things. Would the decision of the medical assessor be binding on the deciding officer or would the deciding officer have some discretion? I ask this question because,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: A thought occurred to me that applies to the current regime but it would apply to the future regime as well. I have come across it twice recently. It involves somebody with a rare illness - the kind of illness where there might be 400 cases in the world. There are a variety of very rare illnesses. In both cases, I dealt with people who would probably struggle with the administration side...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes, it does.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Green Paper on Disability Reform: Department of Social Protection (25 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I did.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (24 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: This has come to my attention because a number of people have contacted me recently who are being means-tested for their carer's allowance. Naturally, some of them are worried, as they would be when they are being means-tested. Anecdotally, from speaking to a number of these people, they believe this is occurring across the board and that a very large of people are being tested, perhaps...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (24 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am not expecting the Minister to make policy on the floor of the Dáil. I ask her to take away my proposal and think about it. There are a category of people who will be cut off and whose allowance will then be restored within a period of six months. I do not believe this is necessary. The Minister may have the power to operate on either side of that by not cutting people off. That...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (24 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: When will the Bill be published?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Payments (24 Oct 2023)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 51. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on the review of means tests for carer's allowance; and whether, in light of increased thresholds in 2024, flexibility can be demonstrated to those being means-tested currently. [46770/23]