Results 1,421-1,440 of 4,012 for speaker:Jennifer Whitmore

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (2 Feb 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: 289. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will detail the consultation that has occurred between her Department and Wicklow County Council over the past year in relation to the new school build for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5265/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (2 Feb 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: 290. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will outline the spend by her Department in the provision of temporary school accommodation in County Wicklow for primary and secondary schools on an annual basis for the years 2010 to 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5266/23]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gender Recognition (1 Feb 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: 132. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there are any plans for her Department to recognise gender identity on school management information systems, given that the Central Statistics Office is planning on recognising gender identity other than male and female in the 2027 census; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4964/23]

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Medicinal Products (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Will the Minister of State ask the Minister to review this process with the HSE?

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Medicinal Products (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: There are a few things in the Minister of State's response that I find quite concerning. The first is that it is quite a hands-off response. It sort of says, "We have done what we can do and now it is up to the clinicians and the people suffering from this to lobby the drug manufacturers to get them to put the application in." That is not good enough. There is an issue. If, as the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Medicinal Products (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I will raise the issue of hyperemesis. As she is aware, it is a condition whereby pregnant people suffer from severe nausea and vomiting. It is very debilitating for people and can lead to many of them ending up in hospital through dehydration or weight loss. It impacts 1% to 2% of pregnancies. There was a campaign by Hyperemesis...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I was going to raise the issue of disconnections; I hope I will get a chance to do so. I wish to follow up on the issue just raised, however. A decision was made 12 years ago that this tariff would be applied. The commission assumed it was being applied as a €50 million tariff but the ESB was applying it as a percentage. How can that discrepancy happen? That seems to be a large...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Did EirGrid also apply it as a percentage?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: It took the direction as it was meant. It was only the ESB that applied the percentage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Ms MacEvilly is saying the ESB did not benefit from this but that money would have been put on domestic bills; is that correct? Theoretically, domestic bill holders from ESB could have been charged a lot more because they were getting charged on a percentage basis rather than to a total of €50 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: To be fair, that is not the only question the CRU should be asking. It should also be asking how a State entity responsible for this misconstrued the direction of the CRU to the point that it was overcharging customers for 12 years. Questions need to be asked in respect of how it took so long for this to be recognised. That is a fundamental issue the CRU needs to consider.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: I wish to raise the issue of disconnections. The word "vulnerable" is being used a lot, often interchangeably. Under the current remit of the CRU, vulnerable customers are medically vulnerable people who need for energy supply critical medical purposes, as well as people who are elderly or could have medical reasons for needing security of supply. It does not relate to financial...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: The moratorium for all domestic users, including the financially vulnerable, is up at the end of February.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Okay. In its energy poverty strategy the Government stated that it was going to legislate to include "financially vulnerable" within the definition of "vulnerable". That did not happen and-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Okay. In the event that the ESB took the CRU's direction and misapplied it, is there a penalty for that? It is quite a large administrative error.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: It has not yet happened. The Government stated it was going to do it for 2022-23. It is Government policy that financially vulnerable people would be included under the CRU's definition of "vulnerable" but, unfortunately, as that has not happened, financially vulnerable people could face disconnection from the end of February. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: Will the CRU extend that moratorium to ensure financially vulnerable people will not be disconnected in that period? It is clear we are not at the end of this crisis. Many people are still in very difficult positions. It is Government policy to include financially vulnerable people. Will the CRU extend the moratorium?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: The CRU is considering extending it to the end of-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: On the issue of the ESB's non-compliance with the CRU's direction, I am just reading the commission's compliance and enforcement policy statement. It is very clear that the commission expects a culture of compliance among its regulated entities and that enforcement actions should "deliver a credible deterrence against non-compliance and ensure meaningful consequences". That is very much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (31 Jan 2023)

Jennifer Whitmore: That decision has been made but do we know how much it will be yet?