Results 1,361-1,380 of 12,584 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Public Services Card: Statements (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: It may be usual for bodies to differ in respect of legal opinion but it is most unusual for a Government to challenge its own statutorily appointed regulator and immediately to seek legal advice after a two-year period of intensive research leading to a detailed report. From the Minister's response, as well as from her contributions earlier, I detect that the only way she will comply with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pensions Reform (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 11. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of her plans to introduce an auto-enrolment pension system; her views on whether quarter 3 of 2020 is a realistic timeframe for the implementation of the system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38834/19]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pensions Reform (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: First, I apologise as there is an error in Question No. 11. The reference to 2020 should be to 2022. Nevertheless, this is a critically important matter. As the Minister is aware, there is significant pressure on the State pension system due to demographic changes and longevity, among other issues. Only 35% of people in the private sector have their own private pensions. Auto enrolment...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pensions Reform (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister stated earlier this year that during the consultation process, the proposals put forward by the Government in its roadmap document were "ripped to bits". The basic design was supposed to have been ready by quarter 1 of 2019. As the Minister is aware, that deadline has already passed. In view of that, is the Minister still confident that she will be able to bring in her...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Pensions Reform (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: In terms of consultation, was there much discussion on who would administer the scheme? The Government's roadmap proposals suggest the private sector. A number of companies in the private sector are interested. I received strong representations to the effect that this should be done by a State body such as the NTMA. The roadmap document promised the establishment of a full-time...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Fraud (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: The Minister said she was building on the previous anti-fraud strategy. Is she aware that her predecessor, when he introduced the previous so-called anti-fraud strategy in 2016, estimated that fraud amounted to €530 million? Some €530 million was going to be saved as this was the amount of fraud in the system. Subsequent parliamentary questions revealed that in 2016, the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Fraud (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: Nobody condones that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Fraud (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: To clarify, nobody condones social welfare fraud but it is a question of how much social welfare fraud there is in the system. There is a hell of a difference between €530 million, which appeared on the side of every bus I saw in 2016, and the actual figure of €41 million. The Minister said there will be an emphasis on bogus self-employment. Will there be a separate and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social Welfare Fraud (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 7. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will report on the new anti-fraud strategy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38835/19]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 3. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the interdepartmental review into community employment schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38826/19]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: In January of this year the Minister announced her intention to set up an interdepartmental group to examine the future of the community employment social inclusion schemes with a view to ring-fencing social inclusion places and allowing services within communities to be maintained. What is the up-to-date position in that regard?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: It is encouraging to see the group's work progressing. The Minister has acknowledged what a fantastic success CE schemes have been and the benefits they have yielded both to individuals and to communities. She has said that she expects the final report shortly, which is precisely what she told me last July. Is the Minister giving the House a commitment that the final report will be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: CE schemes have traditionally been categorised in one of two ways: social inclusion or activation. I agree with the Minister that, as levels of unemployment fall and levels of employment increase, there is less need for activation. The Minister should bear in mind, however, that we face a number of threats on the economic front. There is one in particular, of which we are all aware, which...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Employment Schemes Review (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: Yes.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: We will come back to the question of the 1998 legislation when we will debate this matter later today. Has the Minister fully read the report of the Data Protection Commission? Will she agree that it is carefully researched, detailed and analytical? On the face of it, it seems extraordinary that the Office of the Attorney General which spent much less time considering it was able to come...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: Whatever about the Attorney General, the Taoiseach did not seem to require much time to read it. He stated that even a cursory glance - perhaps while he was in the car travelling between functions - of the different sections, subsections, miscellaneous provisions, etc, would readily lead one to conclude that the Data Protection Commission was completely wrong in its two year’s...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: We are going to court then.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 1. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to challenge the findings of the report from the Data Protection Commission on the subject of the public services card; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38825/19]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Services Card (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: I realise that we are having a debate later this afternoon on the public services card. I want to get a preliminary view on the Government's current thinking on the matter and on where we are.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reports (25 Sep 2019)

Willie O'Dea: 15. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the cost of disability research being undertaken by her Department; when she expects the research to be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38831/19]