Results 121-140 of 457 for long speaker:Willie O'Dea

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (3 Dec 2015)

Willie O'Dea: 158. To ask the Minister for Health the measures being taken to address the long waiting times for an outpatient appointment at University Hospital Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42998/15]

Other Questions: National Internship Scheme Administration (17 Nov 2015)

Willie O'Dea: ...be discontinued and replaced by a different type of scheme? It was suggested that it would be sub-divided into three different internship programmes aimed, respectively, at youth, graduates and long-term unemployed. Do the terms of reference of the evaluation body considering JobBridge at the moment allow for that?

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2015: Committee Stage (11 Nov 2015)

Willie O'Dea: ...jurisdiction, the United Kingdom, is that an employer is not legally entitled to close down such a scheme unless it brings it up to a 90% funding level. The employer cannot close it down unless it is 90% funded so long as the employer is solvent. Amendment No. 40 relates to the scenario whereby, because a scheme is in difficulty, the trustees make a decision to restrict entitlement under...

Social Welfare Bill 2015: Second Stage (4 Nov 2015)

Willie O'Dea: ...is distributing to the poorest and neediest in society. The Minister’s approach seems to be the one adopted by the famous playwright, Noël Coward, who once said, “I can take any amount of criticism so long as it is unqualified praise”. The more I listen to the Minister the more I am driven to conclude that she has very little empathy with, and less...

Gender Recognition Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Willie O'Dea: ...of that review. When we look at how fast this issue is moving and how other jurisdictions are already changing their laws, despite the fact that this legislation is enlightened and despite the long distance the Government has come, this legislation is already being left quite a bit behind. We are rapidly running out of time, so I will ask about the forced divorce clause. My...

Topical Issue Debate: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (30 Jun 2015)

Willie O'Dea: We have been making the point for quite a long time that the cap on rent supplements is driving more and more people into homelessness. This report would seem to justify our worries in that regard. The survey carried out by the Simon Community found, startlingly, that seven out of eight properties available for rent are priced beyond the reach of those in receipt of rent support. In the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social Welfare Overpayments (24 Jun 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Minister for providing those figures, which demonstrate what many of us have long since realised, namely, that the overwhelming majority of people in receipt of social welfare payments behave honestly and that fraud is a minority activity, accounting for less than 3% of the overall social welfare spend. How many prosecutions have taken place in the past few years? Has there been...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Gender Recognition Bill 2014: Committee Stage (17 Jun 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Minister of State for making this significant change. The recommendations of the original committee were softened in the first draft of the Bill, but we have come a long way in the second draft. The reason I have tabled amendments to remove medical practitioners from the picture entirely is the Government has removed the requirement for a medical certificate only in respect of a...

Aer Lingus Share Disposal: Motion (Resumed) (28 May 2015)

Willie O'Dea: I am sharing time with Deputy Martin. How long do we have?

Gender Recognition Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Second Stage (5 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: ...experience to which I refer but, unfortunately, we do not seem to have taken it on board. The original proposals from the review group were a bit of a joke, quite frankly. We have come a long way from those proposals, thank goodness. However, we have deliberately placed ourselves behind some of the legislative advances that have been made in light of the experience elsewhere in the...

Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Mar 2015)

Willie O'Dea: ...to be increasingly disincentivised to work. Statistics from Ireland indicate that replacement rates of 70% or higher only apply to approximately 20% of the population. At the height of the boom, long-term unemployment dropped to 1.3%. That clearly shows that most Irish people want to work and that a majority of them have an incentive to do so. If I understand the Bill correctly,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Sick Pay Scheme Reform (12 Feb 2015)

Willie O'Dea: ...the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 258 of 16 December 2014, if any provisions or exceptions will be provided to public service workers who were on long-term illness leave, more than a year prior to the new illness scheme being introduced, in view of the fact that the look-back period is four years, and as a result, these workers now have no...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Data (5 Feb 2015)

Willie O'Dea: 42. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the latest statistics for the long-term unemployed here; if she is satisfied with the current impact of labour activation matters in her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4914/15]

Order of Business (27 Jan 2015)

Willie O'Dea: In reply to Deputy Martin today, the Taoiseach outlined the procedures set out by the Government to advise on the sale of its share in Aer Lingus. Can the Taoiseach give us any indication of how long that process will go on for? How long will we be waiting for a decision on this, one way or the other, from the Government? Can the Taoiseach confirm that if the Government proceeds to sell...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Long-Term Illness Scheme Applications (14 Jan 2015)

Willie O'Dea: 567. To ask the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Limerick will receive back payment for ADHD medication as applied for under the long-term illness scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49663/14]

Social Welfare Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2014)

Willie O'Dea: I recognise the fact that waiting times have shortened, but five months is still a long time, especially if one has a case wrongly decided. Seven months is even longer and these are the average periods, as Deputy Noel Grealish said. I could cite for the Minister a number of cases with which I am dealing in which it is taking considerably longer than these waiting periods. I am unconvinced...

Committee on Education and Social Protection: Select Sub-Committee on Social Protection: Social Welfare Bill 2014: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2014)

Willie O'Dea: ...is no oral hearing, the average time is 21.8 weeks, which is about five months. There are two points to be made. First, these are average figures and, in some instances, the appeal can take much longer to process. Second, in 56% of cases people effectively have been wronged, in that a wrong decision has been made. The theory is that if somebody applies for a social welfare payment and...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Levels (21 Oct 2014)

Willie O'Dea: 171. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she is satisfied with her Department’s actions in ensuring that those in long-term unemployment are supported by her Department in their attempts to return to the workforce; the number of long-term unemployed who returned to employment annually from 2011 to date in 2014; the number and percentage of long-term unemployed during that...

Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Oct 2014)

Willie O'Dea: ...identity of the father. She could also deny that she knows the whereabouts of the father. That is even easier. The man may have gone to England, Dublin or somewhere down the country and she no longer knows his location. I do not regard that as sufficient reason not to register the name of the father and his last known address. He must have had an address at some stage. He would have...

Order of Business (1 Oct 2014)

Willie O'Dea: ...in the private sector. I notice that the legislation to establish a low pay commission is on the C list. Its publication is expected at some unspecified time next year. There is no indication of how long the commission will sit or how long its recommendations will take to implement, if indeed the Government accepts them. Does that not betray a lack of sincerity on the question of low...