Results 15,701-15,720 of 16,057 for speaker:Mary Coughlan
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: The NAPS programme was evaluated last year by the European Commission, which carried out a peer review on best practice. The European Community noted that MABS is one of best practice and a number of colleague have come to look at the setting up of the system. Last year we evaluated the entire NAPS, which includes income, education, housing and health targets. We have to a considerable extent...
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: One must be egalitarian at all times.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: I have listened as a number of issues have been discussed. There has been an attempt to claim moral superiority. I have been compared to other Ministers.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: No, I did not say that. Senators have said that I do not have my eye on the ball. References have been made to the Lower House, to my personality and to the way in which I deal with things. I was not a stone the last time I looked. I have indicated that I do not hold a certain opinion of this House, as I have discovered at long last that perhaps the Upper House is sometimes more human than...
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: I do not know about anything else in life, but that is a natural prerogative of all of us.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: Senator Ryan spoke about the German social welfare system. If one does a little comparative social policy analysis of our system and that of the Germans one will notice that ours is a more caring society. It is a more caring society than that of France and most other European countries. In most European countries there is no such thing as a one-parent family allowance â it does not exist....
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: That is a reflection of the â¬630 million additional funding which is being provided this year. This ensures that everyone is treated equally. Everyone received â¬10. In normal circumstances, certain groups receive more than others. Widows are treated particularly well, although the professor of English down the back will probably kill me for saying this. This reflects our support for them....
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: ââbecause the issue in question was contained in a previous Bill that was passed by this House and the other House and signed by the President in December last year. We could get into a discussion of whether we are even supposed to be speaking of it now. Everyone in his heart and soul knows I cannot accept this amendment. Everyone knows that if we call a vote the Government will support...
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: There was a slight mistake, but it was sorted out the next day.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: Everyone knows one can try to persuade a Minister to change a decision. One can bark at the Minister, or bite if one feels like it.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: The reality of politics is often totally different from what we talk about on the floor of the House. Mention was made of the politics of envy and the targeting of widows. People's sincerity was cast into doubt. Senators talked about league tables of where people are investing. We could go back and consider where others have had the opportunity to make changes. Other Governments had major...
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: That was changed by us. The Senator's party had an opportunity to change that years ago, but it did not.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: What else did this Government do? We introduced a major increase in the widow's and widower's contributory pension and non-contributory pension. The first time widowers were recognised was 1997. I do not know, but I think we were in Government that day.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: The widower's means-tested pension was first introduced in 1997. We introduced a widowed parent's grant in December 1999, initially of â¬1,270 and which I increased to â¬2,700 this year. That is a recognition of the difficulties faced by certain people. The capital assessment arrangements of my Department have been completely changed to benefit widowers who have made contributions....
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: It is admirable for those on the other side of the House to bring up an issue and be cynical about how many people it affects.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: No. I took the opportunity of meeting the widows' association yesterday evening. We had a good meeting. To go back to statistics for a moment, only 7% of widows have children.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: Yes.
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: I had a good discussion with members of the widows' association last night. They told me what they wanted done and what needed to be changed. They recognised that the issue of widows over 66 was now being sorted out. The anomaly was dealt with in the last Social Welfare Bill. They stated, and I agree, that for widows under 66 the baseline payment is very poor. They receive â¬140 per week. I...
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: They did but we are talking about an individual entitlement and unlike everyone else in the State, they do not pay PRSI on amounts up to â¬287 per week. I wish to refer to the question raised by the case of McHugh v. the Department of Social Welfare. The case was heard in the High Court in 1990. It was appealed and a decision was handed down in 1992. It was to do with a regulation made by...
- Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (24 Mar 2004)
Mary Coughlan: The Supreme Court ruled that the 1987 regulations were ultra vires and that the Minister did not have the power to remove an entitlement to payment which is given in the primary legislation by way of secondary legislation. In addition, the court ruled that in making these regulations which took away entitlements to half-rate DB but left entitlement to half-rate UB intact, the Minister acted...