Results 6,441-6,460 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: It is the first thing I should have said. I apologise. For many pensions, 40 years is the norm and the number which will be required as part of the total contributions approach, TCA, 2012 revisions when the legislation is passed for those affected by the 2012 rate band. The Senator is aware that class S contributions were only introduced in 1988. That will make it challenging for many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not doubt it. While we are not wedded to the outcome, the report was only part of the public consultation process. It certainly was not the agreed endgame. We are in consultations on the design of the TCA, which is probably the most important thing, other than the principle of the policy, which we will determine in the next couple of months. What is most important for me is that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Serious headlines.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: What the Senator did was sad.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The Senator's responsibility, not being disingenuous-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Will the Senator clarify whether he said maternity or paternity?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Fine. I will say two things. It is a fact that the birth rate is down this year on last year, so both maternity and paternity payments are down. Paternity leave is a new scheme. Given that in most, though not all, houses the man earns more than the woman, a work-in-progress issue that we will have to address over the coming years, taking paternity leave has a cost implication for certain...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I will address the point made by Deputy Brady before answering Deputy Bríd Smith's questions. He refers to a penalty but we call it a discount. An 8% discount is applied to all fees paid from April to December 2017. The Department has recently applied discounts to both contractors, in the range provided for in the contracts, on all fees payable in 2018. In addition, the Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: That was last year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The way in which the discount is applied depends on the results of the quarterly labour force survey from the final quarter of each calendar year. The discount rate applies to the number of people going forward on the live register as opposed to going backwards so they are paid in the subsequent calendar year. The 8% discount was applied to all fees. That was for April to December last...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Of course, that is no problem at all. It involves the timelines around the T12 project. I might have mentioned them already but I will provide them in written form. The audit has not been conducted with regard to that because there is no need. I am making the assumption that nobody will choose to be on a lesser payment than their current payment. People will only opt to move to a more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I acknowledge that 18 weeks is too long. I also acknowledge that when people do appeal, they may have to wait another 12, 14 or 16 weeks but it is because of the complexity of the application in the first instance. This is why we not only move staff around to try to reduce those working weeks turnaround, we are going to improve the application process to make it easier for people to give...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: That is no problem at all. Last but not least, I thank the Deputy for acknowledging and recognising that we are unravelling the cuts that were made. I am well aware that if I was to unravel them, I would need to bring it back up to €146, which is what it was. As already stated, it would probably be premature to say anything given that I am in negotiations for the budget but I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: It would cost serious money - tens of millions. It is not small beans. It would cost tens of millions to ensure that everybody who stays in school until their leaving certificate regardless of their age got a children's allowance payment. It would increase that expenditure by tens of millions. Deputy Bríd Smith rightly pointed that out that if my children were 18 and still in school,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: The first response I would make to the Chairman is that a couple of years ago we started a programme to try to extend equal benefits to those who are self-employed as to those who are employed. That was started, as the Chairman will be aware, with the invalidity pension and the extension of the treatment benefits last year. It is not something that will be equalised in one, two or even...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: I wrote that down and I am sorry I did not respond to it. On the working family payment, carer's allowance and maintenance, all that is taken as income is income. If somebody is on a carer's allowance, it is income into the family. It is not - not to be disrespectful - special income.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: There needs to be consistency.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Deputy Brady is correct. There should not be an inconsistency between Bray and Ratoath. I will come back to Deputy Brady on that one. On the automatic payment, I do not know how we would have an automatic payment because we have a system that pays a person, either on a weekly basis or in two lump sums. It is an IT system. The IT system only gets changed quarterly which is why - I do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Regina Doherty: Of persistent cold weather, yes.