Results 8,001-8,020 of 35,563 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Íocaíochtaí Deontas (17 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: 210. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht an bhfuil sé ar intinn aici deontas atosaithe a thabhairt isteach, cosúil leis an deontas a tugadh isteach do ghnólachtaí eile, do Mhná Tí mar gheall ar na costais bhreise a bheas orthu agus iad ag atosú in 2022. [8973/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: 222. To ask the Minister for Health if the HSE plan to have a full-time consultant ophthalmologist located in Letterkenny, County Donegal to address high waiting lists for eye care in the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8622/22]

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the witnesses to the committee. I have just a couple of questions with regard to indexation. Perhaps I will start with what happened in budget 2022. Will the witnesses clarify how core social welfare payments were indexed in budget 2022? What methodology was used?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Did any of those proposals include indexation?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Up until now, the Department has never looked at the indexation of social protection payments. Is that correct? It basically just gives the Minister a table showing what it would cost if a given payment was increased by €1 or €2 and so forth. Has it ever brought the issue of need into it? This fiver for everybody is a political decision. It is not based on the needs of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: To go back a step, was any proposal given to the Minister for consideration with regard to indexation to the rate of inflation in last year's budget?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: That is fair enough because the way the political system has always acted here has been to provide a fiver or whatever it is. It has always been a flat rate rather than being based on need or some reference point with regard to wages or increases in the cost of living. Now that we know where we are at this point in time, with the rate of inflation higher than 5%, by how much would...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I understand that. Without those increases, given where we know the rate of inflation to be now, all of those households are going to become poorer this year. An indexed increase would have been €10 but €5 was given. The value of their payment is therefore €250 less over a year. Is that not correct?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: In fairness, no matter what happened in last year's budget, the fuel allowance will not come anywhere near the inflation facing households this year, which equates to an extra €700. I would say Mr. Lawler would accept that. Where is the Department's head, and that of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with regard to indexation? We are always hearing Ministers saying...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: To clarify, that is not indexation.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: That is fair enough. It is not a policy of indexation.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Lawler mentioned the Commission on Pensions, the work done by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice and the minimum essential standard of living, MESL, rate, the rate required just to get by. In terms of the different categories of people, who is further away from those rates? Is it pensioners or, for example, single parents or those depending on working-age payments?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, the MESL rates.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Is it not the case that pensioners are closer to the rates, if not at the rates in some cases, depending on the composition, than, for example, lone parents or those depending on working-age payments?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It is correct. I want to challenge the Department on policy-led and needs-led assessment. Our guests referred to indexation for pensioners. Obviously, I am not arguing against that; I support the increase in the pension, which Sinn Féin has called for. However, to do that as a priority in light of the fact that those who are more at risk of poverty are actually in the other...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: When will that start? When will it be concluded?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I will make a final point. I thank Mr. Lawler for his responses.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I will ask a quick question. When Sinn Féin puts forward its alternative budget, we look at those closest to the risk of poverty. It is not a case of €5 or €10 for everybody. Lone parents are further from where they need to be. Those with disabilities have an additional cost. Does the Department not see that? I know it is complex, but there is evidence that there has...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Indexation of Taxation and Social Protection System: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Was there any recommendation from officials in the Department with regard to the rate working-age payments should be set at in the future in the context of the discussions on budget 2022?