Results 1,461-1,480 of 4,782 for speaker:Olwyn Enright
- Departmental Staff. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: I welcome any steps taken to reduce the processing time but I am concerned about the pace of delivery of the changes. The Minister stated claimants could avail of the supplementary welfare allowance but the difficulty is that part of the service has gone beyond breaking point, according to some staff. The knock-on effect of not having sufficient staff in local welfare offices means...
- Departmental Staff. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: I never mentioned the queues outside offices but they are appalling. I will ask the questions again that I asked earlier. What happened to the 50 facilitators, the appointment of whom the Minister announced last July? Were they all recruited and deployed? When did the number of facilitators change from 40 to 60? When community welfare officers assess an application for a supplementary...
- Departmental Staff. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: The Minister stated 50 would be provided in July and it appears only 20 more have been added.
- Departmental Staff. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: It is the same information.
- Pension Provisions. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: It was a European court.
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: Question 3: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way she plans to reform the rent supplement scheme to ensure that those eligible for the payment can access good quality accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9372/09]
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: Members should desist from calling rent supplement a short-term payment because at this stage it is anything but. Is the Minister concerned that her Department has not come close to meeting its targets regarding the transfer of people from rent supplement to the RAS? The transfer rate is nowhere near what was expected. How does she intend to address this and when does she expect the...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: Why are they not doing so?
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: The Minister should answer the questions I asked, rather than the questions she would like me to ask. I asked her the reason her Department has not reached its targets regarding the transfer from rent supplement to RAS. I did not ask for a dissertationââ
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: The Department has not managed to effect the transfer and has not reached its targets. I ask again, why not? Second, in the course of the rent limit review, has the Minister considered setting up a deposit protection scheme? Her Department is unable to get back between â¬6 million and â¬7 million a year that is paid to landlords when deposits are forfeited. Were a scheme put in place...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: I did listen.
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: It is not happening.
- Money Advice and Budgeting Service. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: Question 4: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the action she will take to assist the money advice and budgeting service in dealing with the increased numbers of people seeking support and advice on the way to deal with debt problems; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9373/09]
- Money Advice and Budgeting Service. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: I thank the Minister. The MABS does very good work and is to be commended, particularly given the difficult environment in which it now operates. That said, there is a need for a new or different level of expertise within the MABS organisation. Will the Minister give consideration to the idea of allowing the MABS to employ people with expertise in dealing with financial institutions to...
- Money Advice and Budgeting Service. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: To explain, my proposal is to have people in the MABS who have the time and the expertise to negotiate with financial institutions on people's behalf. They would negotiate changes in people's mortgage repayments and effectively would prevent repossessions.
- Money Advice and Budgeting Service. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: I am not criticising the work MABS is doing. However, dealing with financial institutions, particularly in the sub-prime area, requires different skills to those involved in contacting the ESB or Bord Gáis. The latter and organisations like them take a fairly responsible approach to those who are in debt. I am of the view, having talked to many people about this, that there is a need for...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: Question 5: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs whether she agrees that her recent reforms to the back to education allowance do not go far enough and that the requirement for claimants to be in receipt of a welfare support, such as jobseeker's benefit, for a period of 12 months before they are considered eligible is preventing people from accessing the critical upskilling and...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: Just because a scheme operated in a particular way in the past does not mean it should continue to operate in the same way in these changed economic times. The Minister said that â¬519 million is allocated to the scheme during the lifetime of the national development plan. If people are denied access to the back to education allowance, they will continue to be in receipt of other social...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: It is a legitimate concern that people should not be encouraged to organise their affairs in that manner. However, I do not want people sitting idle for as long as 23 months. For example, if one loses one's job in October, one will be ineligible for the back to education allowance when the new college year starts 11 months later. Therefore, one must wait another entire year, until the...
- Social Welfare Benefits. (5 Mar 2009)
Olwyn Enright: How many people have been facilitated in this way?