Results 101-120 of 5,154 for speaker:Willie O'Dea in 'Dáil debates'

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (18 May 2021)

Willie O'Dea: 86. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons in County Limerick currently in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment; the number in receipt of the payment on the same date in April 2021; the number of persons in County Limerick who have received the payment since its introduction; the total expenditure on such payments in County Limerick over...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (6 May 2021)

Willie O'Dea: In his reply to earlier questions, I heard the Tánaiste say there could be unintended consequences if there was a complete ban on cuckoo funds acting, about which we have all been talking in recent days. An obvious unintended consequence is the way they are acting at the moment, because they were established to increase supply and to provide capital and extra housing, instead of...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (29 Apr 2021)

Willie O'Dea: I congratulate the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I heard some of the Tánaiste's responses in which he referred to the division in opinion on the efficacy of rapid testing. Does he agree that there is also an even sharper difference in opinion on the whole notion of a vaccine passport, or an immunity certificate as it is being called? Does he not agree that the introduction of such a...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wage Subsidy Scheme (25 Mar 2021)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I spoke briefly to the Minister for Social Protection earlier and she undertook to consider my suggestion that, at a very minimum, a CE scheme for the disabled should be established here. This is not a political matter as far as I am concerned. I am raising this in a non-adversarial, apolitical way. Most of the people who are losing their...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wage Subsidy Scheme (25 Mar 2021)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important topic. The group of workers who are directly affected are some 2,600 workers throughout the country who suffer from a mild physical or mental disability and who, due to a Government initiative, have been allowed to join the workforce. The reason they have been able to participate in the workforce is because the Government...

Banking Sector: Statements (3 Mar 2021)

Willie O'Dea: In the ridiculously short time available to me I am not able to discuss Bank of Ireland but suffice it to say I agree with the remarks by Members on all sides of the House. I will confine myself, in the few minutes I have, to the situation with Ulster Bank. The key question with Ulster Bank is who steps into the breach. Who will step into the breach in relation to SME lending and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Examinership Arrangements (4 Feb 2021)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Minister of State very much for his assurance that it is his intention to have the legislation to provide a system of examinership or restructuring, or whatever one wants to call it, specifically tailored to the needs of these companies in place by summer at the latest. That is most appropriate. If it is done, the necessary addendum to all the money that has been spent on those...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Examinership Arrangements (4 Feb 2021)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this very important topic. This State has expended enormous amounts of money as aids to businesses affected by the pandemic, and rightly so. The purpose of this has been to preserve businesses and jobs affected by the pandemic. More important is ensuring that as many businesses and jobs as possible emerge unscathed when the pandemic...

Covid-19 (Social Protection): Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Willie O'Dea: I wish to share time with Deputy Flaherty. I take it he is in the House. I cannot see downstairs.

Covid-19 (Social Protection): Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Willie O'Dea: That is fair enough. I will make a few general observations and leave it to my colleagues to ask the questions. We will give the Minister a break from questions. I join with her and other speakers in congratulating the staff of the Department of Social Protection on the wonderful work they have been doing during the pandemic. I say a special word of thanks and congratulations to local...

Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (9 Dec 2020)

Willie O'Dea: I am sharing time with Deputy Brendan Smith. I would love to discuss many of the points made by the previous speaker but unfortunately my time is limited to three and a half minutes. Despite all the guff and fake indignation we have heard on the floor of the House about the Government being allocated extra time, the longest I have ever been allowed to speak here since the Government took...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Heritage Sites (17 Nov 2020)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister's response indicates that we are in the same position now as we were last August. At that time, the Government was prepared to allocate €2.4 million to ensure the continued operation of the sites in question. Only €700,000 of that has been drawn down, which brings us up to Christmas. What is the problem with allocating some more of that money now to keep those...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Heritage Sites (17 Nov 2020)

Willie O'Dea: Deputy Crowe and I have already explained to the Government the central importance of these sites to the economy of the entire region. Thankfully, the Government listened and decided last August to provide funding to enable the sites to remain open. What is quite mysterious to me is the fact that the Government decided to allocate €2.4 million to keep those sites open but it has only...

Finance Bill 2020: Second Stage (4 Nov 2020)

Willie O'Dea: I will confine myself to commenting on three aspects of the Finance Bill because of the lack of time available. I want to ask the Minister about the tax treatment of the pandemic unemployment payments, PUP. The PUP scheme is very different from ordinary social welfare schemes. There are different rates, different conditions and so on. The reason for this is very simple. We are all...

Financial Resolutions 2020 - Financial Resolution No. 7: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2020)

Willie O'Dea: He has been here forever.

Financial Resolutions 2020 - Financial Resolution No. 7: General (Resumed) (14 Oct 2020)

Willie O'Dea: I was going to share time with Deputy McGuinness, but I presume I am now sharing with Deputy Alan Farrell instead. I welcome that this is an expansive budget, which is the proper way to go. It is not possible to cut our way out of a crisis like this. We must spend our way out of it. I welcome the supports for business, particularly the extension of the tax warehousing scheme and the...

Protecting Jobs and Supporting Business: Statements (16 Sep 2020)

Willie O'Dea: I am sharing time with Deputy Cahill. I welcome this debate which is taking place in the run-up to the budget, which will, presumably, represent the next instalment of Government measures to alleviate the impact of Covid-19. Covid-19 does not discriminate between individuals but it does have a profoundly different affect on different sectors of the economy. In terms of our economy, the...

Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Second Stage (30 Jul 2020)

Willie O'Dea: I congratulate the Minister on her appointment and wish her well. There is much in this legislation that is useful and necessary, of that there is no doubt. I accept what my colleague, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, has said on remote hearings and so on for the courts, under their own rules of proceeding, to do this sort of thing and I welcome that. It is quite useful and I welcome the fact it is...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (Resumed) (10 Jun 2020)

Willie O'Dea: Like my colleague, Deputy Crowe, I want to use my 150 seconds to make a special plea to the Minister, the Government and the incoming Government to intercede with Aer Lingus to persuade it to reverse the unfair, discriminatory and possibly illegal way it has treated its staff in Shannon Airport for the reasons outlined by my colleague. The Minister may well say that Aer Lingus is a private...

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 37 - Employment Affairs and Social Protection (Revised Estimate) (28 May 2020)

Willie O'Dea: I welcome the Minister to the House. We are all familiar with the expression, "I cannot believe what I am hearing." Today, I cannot believe what I am not hearing. We are in a situation where the House is being asked to vote for an additional €6,840 million of taxpayers' money for increased social welfare payments, which I welcome, but without any information whatsoever as to the...