Results 9,321-9,340 of 19,378 for speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Report Stage (1 Apr 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I move amendment No. 3:In page 6, lines 5 to 8, to delete all words from and including "or" in line 5 down to and including line 8.

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Report Stage (1 Apr 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: "Panorama" and The Guardian.

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Report Stage (1 Apr 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I have listened and I welcome the progress that has been made in ensuring we will achieve the maximum number of medical assessors. The population is aging. Is the Minister of State confident that putting the full complement of 25 in place and addressing the backlog would be sufficient to deal with future needs, or will there be a continuous need for agency staff? This is my concern. I have...

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Report Stage (1 Apr 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I tabled two of these amendments, which are consequential on the proposed change. I do not have a major problem with the definition of "medical assessor" but my problem is that this change will facilitate the use of employment agencies instead of hiring medical practitioners directly. On Committee Stage, I reflected the practice in Britain when agency staff were introduced and the health...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (31 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 204. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason participants in the Tús work placement initiative must have a bank account in their names when other social welfare payments can be processed through An Post or post office accounts. [12902/15]

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Guardian Status (31 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 207. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the delay in reinstating guardian’s allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 10 in view of the fact that it has been more than six months since the payment was wrongly suspended. [12916/15]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Photographic Identification (31 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 252. To ask the Minister for Finance if the social welfare card is acceptable proof of identity when opening post office or bank accounts for the purposes of receiving social welfare payments. [12903/15]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Legal Aid (31 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 367. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the options available to drivers who have had penalty points levied against them and who cannot afford to be legally represented when challenging them; if it is possible to set up a lay litigant system which persons could avail of; if it is possible to allow any consequential fines if they lose to be paid in instalments; and the position...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Charges Exemptions (31 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 628. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if a person (details supplied) in Dublin 10 will be exempt from paying water charges. [12869/15]

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I have concerns about the use of agency staff and the definition of "agency staff". Perhaps one of the reasons there is a problem in recruiting additional staff is they are faced with a backlog and, therefore, a significant workload. It is obvious that there are not enough posts, given the huge backlog of medical assessments in the case of all social welfare benefits, not just carer's...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: It was in The Guardian.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I accept the Minister of State's point that this is not being done for the same reason that occurred in Britain. However, I still have a problem with agency staff. I do not see the logic in a person taking up a job via an agency when he or she could do so directly if a position is available. Perhaps positions are not being properly advertised and people are not aware of them. Many of our...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I understand that. Usually, doctors working for agencies are paid higher wages than they would be paid for working in the public sector. They are also more open to working additional hours. This would not be, I hope, an option for a person working on contract for the State. I understand the need for short term contracts to get us over the hump of the current backlog in the system but I do...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I have a number of problems with the section. I have considerable sympathy for Deputies who take the time and make an effort to put amendments together that are then ruled out of order. I have challenged such rulings and asked at the Constitutional Convention that the section in the Constitution used to prevent us from making progressive proposals be removed. If this were done, we could...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: This is the section under which people are required to present their social welfare cards in specified circumstances. Such circumstances have been legislated for but the Bill outlines further when people will be obliged to present their cards and indicates the service providers that can demand sight of them. I do not have a major difficulty with that, I am merely seeking to discover what...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: This is the third change over a series of Bills relating to arrangements for the repayment of moneys supposedly owed in respect of cases of fraud arising from the provision of misleading information or the concealment of facts. FLAC has, once again, outlined the dangers associated with these provisions in its submission on the Bill. What we must bear in mind is that an allegation is not...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Believe it or not, it is relevant to the section because this section was introduced to recover at a level over the €2 to 15%. At every stage that we have tried to deal with this issue we have been cut short, so I am not-----

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I could speak for as long again.

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: This is Committee Stage. The reason we are ending up with problems such as this is because we have not had the ability to tease out where there are complications such as this. I am not argumentative, I am merely asking in a positive way, because the Department gets its money, that the Minister of State approach the issue. FLAC and others have said that in the past the supplementary welfare...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) 2015: Committee Stage (25 Mar 2015)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The key part of all this is the Statute of Limitations. We cannot have a situation where a person is continually going back. If a person is guilty of fraud and if the Department goes back 30 years, it will charge the person with fraud, but if not, a line needs to be drawn in the sand.