Results 1,501-1,520 of 12,033 for speaker:Regina Doherty

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I do not think the two things are the same, even though they sound similar. When this House passed the legislation that suspended the right of an employee to apply for redundancy once they had been furloughed for longer than four weeks, we knew that it was not a real furlough. We knew everybody was going to be off work for longer than four weeks because we had closed down the country for...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The first question the Deputy asked me was with regard to people passing away. I hope to God we are not; I do not know whether we are. From our perspective in my Department, we did a bit of research with the Central Bank a number of weeks ago which I published last Wednesday week. I will send a copy of it to the Deputy this afternoon. It looks at all of the people on the pandemic payment,...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I will answer the question on the Duffy Cahill report and write to the Deputy on the other issues. The Deputy is aware the Duffy Cahill report was sent to the Company Law Review Group in 2016 for its consideration, as that group was advising the Minister with responsibility for business. All of the responsibilities associated with this particular issue were then with that Department. They...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I hate to do this to the Deputy but I do not have the answer to the question because I am not in that Department. What I do know is that it was not done intentionally. It is wrong, we need to fix it and we are going to fix it. I do not know how we are going to fix it. From the outside, we sometimes think these things are obvious and should be easy to fix but it turns out that they are...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: There absolutely is but the problem is that with this particular case - and one learns from every single scenario - it all happened very fast. We were not really given much notice. We had an idea of what was going on for the past number of years but obviously it was accentuated by the pandemic and decisions were made by the employer very quickly. The liquidator was appointed before we got...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The Deputy made a very good point. I have been receiving literally a daily phone call from one of the ladies in Safe Ireland. I have no doubt that that will not change. If there are any tweaks that need to be made, we will definitely make them. I thank the Deputy for writing to me on the matter, as he has done on several occasions. Several other Members raised the issue of those...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I thank colleagues for their comments regarding the hard work of staff, which I will pass on to them. The PUP scheme, as I said earlier, was introduced at speed and is due to finish its first round on 9 June. I put it categorically on the record that the scheme will, of course, be extended. It was introduced to support the income that was lost temporarily by people as we closed down the...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: The wage subsidy scheme was introduced in that way because many companies had poor cash flows. In the first two weeks after the wage subsidy scheme was introduced and when there was some confusion as to the criteria, many people let their staff go, went onto the Covid payment and took their staff back knowing full well that the Revenue Commissioners were refunding the wages in real time. If...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: They have been here for many years. I did not make the rules. We just have to abide by them.

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I congratulate the Deputy. He is very welcome. I agree with him. I do not know the ins and outs of that, but whatever way the owner of the coffee shop was treated, what happened is a shame. It is not within my gift or that of my Department to introduce such legislation, but I will have a conversation with the Minister who is in charge and ask him to revert to the Deputy directly.

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: Shall I go back to the start of the questions?

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: Okay. That is no problem.

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: There were questions asked before the Deputy's contribution.

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: That is fine by me.

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: There is no problem. The Covid-19 unemployment payment is payable to people resident in Ireland who lose their employment as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. European Union citizens have the right to live and work in any European Union country and cross-border workers, termed as frontier workers, arise where people work on one side of a border but live on the other and return home at...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: Deputy Brady is asking me a question. I do not think his comment is fair. It is not that I am not willing; we have not made the decision yet. The decision to support people's incomes still stands and will stand for all of the phases until society is reopened again.

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: To answer a direct question, the payment will have to be extended. It was introduced to support people's incomes while their normal incomes were not available to them. We are aware that based on the phases of the reopening of society, this will occur at different times for different people, so-----

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I will tell the Deputy what I can do. I can confirm to him that it will be extended. In which shape and form, however, the decision has not been made yet. The matter is under active consideration and the decision will probably be made in the coming weeks. As soon as it has been arrived at, I will be the first to tell everybody. The most important thing to say is that it was introduced to...

Covid-19 (Employment Affairs and Social Protection): Statements (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I do not think anybody present could have predicted the unprecedented turmoil we have experienced in the past few short months. We had near full employment and a still-declining live register. We are now in a situation where the funds from the social protection Vote are acting as an income shock absorber to over 1 million people who have lost their jobs. The outbreak of Covid-19 and the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Company Closures (20 May 2020)

Regina Doherty: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1176 and 1214 together. Firstly, I would like to say that my thoughts are with all workers faced with the prospect of closure and job losses at this difficult time. With the exception of grocery outlets, the retail sector has been particularly affected by the measures we have had to take in response to the spread of Covid-19.  Having come through a...