Results 1,401-1,420 of 34,833 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Insurance Industry (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: As the Deputy rightly says, the categories of car insurance and home insurance are separate from the issue of business insurance. There have been reductions in car insurance, which affects every household in the country, this year and since the guidelines came in. Three major insurance companies were at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Insurance Industry (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I agree with the Deputies opposite when they talk about balancing the duty of care. Before we came in here, we had it already arranged that I will meet with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, at the very beginning of the new year to progress that legislation. Work has already been done on it in consultation with the Attorney General. It...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Prices (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important and timely issue at present affecting every household in the country. The final retail price of fuel is determined by a number of factors that include the costs of production, distribution, global market factors, international exchange rates, taxation, wholesale market contracts as well as individual retail pricing policies. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Insurance Industry (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 164 together. The action plan for insurance reform contains 66 cross-departmental actions that aim to improve the cost and availability of insurance. This reform agenda is progressing well. The first implementation report published by the Tánaiste’s Department last July showed that 34 of the 66 actions had been completed. Key reforms...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy. On climate change, credit unions are exceptionally well placed to provide loans for retrofitting schemes for individual houses throughout the country. As regards the common bond, in 2017 CUAC made five recommendations to open up the common bond to assist credit unions in developing their business model and growth potential. Those recommendations included the removal of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: The resistance came from the main representative bodies in the credit unions at the time, which did not want to touch the common bond because they felt it was established in the first place for very good reasons and they did not want to move on that. I have met all the representative bodies in the credit unions a few times in the past year and we now have movement from all the main credit...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of credit unions and the great role they have in society. Recent opinion polls have shown them to be the most trusted brand consistently over recent years. The Central Bank issued a report yesterday about the challenges facing credit unions so I will briefly bring people up to date on that. Credit unions' financial situation improved in the past...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: 519. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the waiting times for behavioural therapy and speech and language therapy for children, by county (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62501/21]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the committee for facilitating pre-legislative scrutiny of the insurance (miscellaneous provisions) Bill and for the invitation to appear before it today. My script has been provided to the committee in advance. Insurance reform is a priority for Government. In the programme for Government there are 21 measures related to insurance reform. The Action Plan for Insurance Reform,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy. That is a perfect question and the exact question I raised when this issue came to light. What the Deputy has just said explains the current situation concisely and accurately. In practice, where a business had a loss of the order of €100,000, to use the example the Deputy gave, and there is State support through TWSS, CRSS or rates not being levied on that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I agree with the Deputy but we do not have sufficient information to draft robust legislation on it now. That mechanism can work in the future immediately, prospectively and in relation to any new scheme introduced across any Department, like in social protection. That measure should be included in the scheme being brought forward through legislation. If there was a new scheme introduced...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy for her good wishes for Christmas. I utterly reject that I have misled anyone except those who chose to misinterpret what I said. The situation is very clear. In the programme for Government we said that we would deal with dual pricing. It is in the programme for Government and the national plan for insurance and we are following through on that. It is important that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: That will certainly happen. People get confused in this debate. Some talk about differential pricing and others about dual pricing, which is a subset of that, price walking while others refer to loyalty bonuses or loyalty penalties. They are all quite different. I can understand that sometimes people use these terms interchangeably. We gave a commitment in the programme for Government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank Senator Casey for his general comments regarding insurance reform. We all hope that it will lead to a much better environment. Insurance has been such a big issue in this country for a number of years. That is why it features so prominently in the programme for Government and why a Cabinet sub-group across a number of Departments is dealing with it. On the issue of Covid, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: We are deleting the section in the existing Act and bringing in a new section to give legal privilege to certain documents. We were concerned that, the way the 2019 legislation was drafted, any new information would be required to be shared. That might have compromised the important principle of legal privilege so we are bringing forward measures to ensure such documents have to be shared...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Public Sector Pensions (15 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: 4. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when the promised consultation with the retired workers' organisations (details supplied) that can offer experience and knowledge in relation to retired workers with occupational pensions will take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62116/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: 116. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when a payment will be issued to the contractor who carried out work in installing temporary accommodation for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62184/21]

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Tax Clearance Certificates (14 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I again acknowledge the remarks made by Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan in highlighting issues of major concern to many people throughout the country. In my opening remarks I was speaking specifically about tax clearance certificates, but this is very important. A PPS number is required for a deed to be stamped before the transaction can be completed. There are various ways that can happen....