Results 8,481-8,500 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 8 together. Maybe the other Deputy would like to-----

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Sorry, I beg the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's pardon.

Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: My Department provides a range of activation supports and programmes catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include the JobPath service and programmes such as community employment, CE, and Tús. Schemes such as CE and Tús provide part-time temporary work in local communities, as a stepping-stone back to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I know why the Deputy is saying what she is saying and hope there will be thousands of people outside Leinster House tomorrow. I will go and meet them. However, I do not feel pressure.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: Perhaps they should experience the pressure exerted on me.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I have made a commitment and recognised the anomaly and how it affects some 42,000 people. The Deputy is right that as each year passes and the anomaly is not fixed, there will be a further 8,000 to 10,000 added to the list. I recognise that it is wrong and have committed to fixing it. I will fix it. I invite people to attend tomorrow to express how they feel and I will certainly listen....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pensions Legislation (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: First, I am very glad that Deputy Brady does not want to argue with me because this is only January but we are not disagreeing with each other. He might think that the changes in the whole should not have been brought in but the changes that happened in 2012 did not only affect 42,000 people, they affected hundreds of thousands of people. Except for the 42,000 people who were maligned by...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pensions Legislation (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: -----such that something magically would happen for me that would be great.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pensions Legislation (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I believe Deputy O'Dea knows my intention on this. I want to fix this as quickly as I can but let us all be honest with each other in this Chamber that it will involve new money.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I thank the Deputy for her question and I want to be able to answer it properly. She is specifically asking about the homemaker's credit and not about the anomaly. If she does not mind, I am going to shoot to a supplementary response because it more freely answers the question she has asked me. In practice, there are a number of factors that make it impossible to be precise. That is not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Pension (Contributory) (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I do not have the answer to the question the Deputy asked but I am able to tell her that if and when we introduce a total contributions approach on 1 January 2020, which is only a number of years away, whatever credit we decide for homemakers during the public consultation model, whether it is 15 years or 20 years, will be for any year. Therefore, the 1994 business will be defunct once we...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I believe that if we do not set ambitious targets then we are never going to achieve them. It is an ambitious target. I have said a number of times on the record that the target under the action plan Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures is to take 90,000 children out of poverty in that period. I do not know which 30,000 children we will pick to leave behind. It is my ambition to make sure...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pensions Legislation (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 3 together. The current rate bands applying to the State contributory pension were introduced from September 2012, replacing previous rates introduced in 2000. The rate bands prior to 2000 were less generous and the improved rate bands introduced in 2000 were a feature of the economic environment, which we all acknowledge, at that time. Although the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pensions Legislation (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: To be clear, I do not believe that at any stage I have ever said the changes were wrong, and if I have than I would like to correct it if the Deputy's understanding of what I said is not true. There is nothing wrong with the band changes and the averaging system that was introduced by this House in 2012, in the Government's opinion. The change gave rise to an anomaly that currently affects...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pensions Legislation (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I will answer the Deputy's question directly. Before Christmas I committed to him that when I bring the report to the cabinet I will publish it. That position has not changed. I very much hope that I get a positive response. I am fairly confident that I will. I believe that the options in the proposals are very reasonable and genuinely reflect an acknowledgement on my part, as I have...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I wish the Deputy and Deputy John Brady a very happy new year. I hope we will have a productive year. I also wish the Leas-Cheann Comhairle a happy new year. I welcome the CSO survey of income and living conditions results for 2016 because they show improvements in living conditions and tackling poverty. In 2016 incomes rose by 3.1%, mainly due to rising employment, while the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Poverty (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I agree with the Deputy that the numbers I have just given do not reflect the economic progress we are seeing because they are the figures to the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. Thankfully, in 2018 there are 320,000 more people working than when the Deputy's party left government in 2011. Ensuring someone has a job is the single greatest thing any economy or government can do to try...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: All claim decisions taken by the Department’s deciding officers are appealable to the Chief Appeals Officer. In any year about 85% of all claims are awarded and just 1% are appealed. Nevertheless the Department is concerned that these cases are dealt with as quickly as possible. Accordingly, significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming the appeal process in recent...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Measures (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 33 together. The Youth Employment Support Scheme (YESS) is a new scheme that I intend to introduce in May/June of this year. The scheme will be targeted at young people aged 18 to 24 who are long-term unemployed or who face barriers to employment – people who even in the Celtic Tiger years would have found it difficult to get a foot on the career...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (17 Jan 2018)

Regina Doherty: The State pension contributory is paid from the Social Insurance Fund. Accordingly, it is important to ensure those qualifying for that pension have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working lives. To ensure that the individual can maximise their entitlement, all contributions, paid or credited, over their working life from when they first enter insurable...