Results 1,901-1,920 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that, following receipt of the relevant Departmental papers including comments on the grounds of appeal, the appeal from the person concerned has been referred to an Appeals Officer for consideration. The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an office of the Department that is independently responsible for determining appeals against decisions on...

Written Answers — Ministerial Travel: Ministerial Travel (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The amounts spent on commercial flights by my predecessors and me while on Government business for 2006, 2007, 2008 and to date in 2009 are set out in the following table: From - To Minister Home Travel Foreign Travel 1/1/09 – date Mary Hanafin 0 10,773 2009 Total: 10,773 7/5/08 – 31/12/08 Mary Hanafin 0 922 1/1/08 – 7/5/08 Martin Cullen 0 7,750 2008 Total: 8,672 14/6/07 –...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: There is no doubt we would not be introducing these cuts in social welfare were it not for the economic situation in which we find ourselves and were it not for the need to bring stability to the finances of the country. Everybody recognises the huge increases introduced in social welfare payments in recent years, including in the last budget. These increases were well ahead of inflation....

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: It would do a greater disservice-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: -----to carers and people with a disability to take money from services. In fact, additional moneys are going into items such as home care packages-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: We made very deliberate choices to protect pensioners, older people who have made their contribution to the State. We made a very deliberate choice to ensure children in families dependent on social welfare or those families in receipt of family income supplement would not suffer the loss of child benefit. We have supported and protected pensioners and such children. We have also...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: It stated it would cut payments to widows and lone parents, the farm assist payment, unemployment payments with a view to incentivising young people-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: We should recognise there were proposals to cut social welfare from various sides of the House. We made our decisions to protect older people, the children of vulnerable families on social welfare, those in receipt of farm assist payments and to incentivise young people-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: I accept that when a cut is made in one area and money is taken back, this will be difficult for those affected. It is not a situation we like to be in, but if we do not get the finances of the country right now, unfortunately, others will pay for it for a very long time. We do not want to find we are in that situation in a few years' time. In making the tough decisions now we are putting...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: As I indicated, we have protected pensioners; there has been no change in respect of them. We have protected children in families dependent on social welfare who are in receipt of family income supplement. Those families will not experience any drop in income as a result of the cut in child benefit. We have also tried to ensure, despite the difficult decisions that were made, that we kept...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: -----have also benefited from the decline in prices. Real purchasing power has also been protected for those people. Nobody is saying this is easy but it is interesting that the very people who recommended cutting jobseeker's allowance, widow's pension and lone parents allowance, which is the Fine Gael Party, are now the ones who are objecting to that policy being introduced.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: To get the same savings, it would have meant putting an increased burden on some of those other sectors.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: If we were to take the groups that the Fine Gael Party identified as the ones who should be cut-----

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: -----to get €730 million, we would have had to take far more from those. It was very much an effort in trying to prioritise within a social welfare budget where savings had to be made. It was not enough to try to bring in extra revenue from other areas. As anyone knows, we had to bring about structural changes in our expenditure that would last through next year and that can show we have...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: -----but it should be seen in the context of the increases that were given, the decreases in prices and the fact that when it comes to the most vulnerable, the very young and the very old, we have protected those as well.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: Not particularly, because I always seem to have to repeat everything I say to the Senator and then repeat it again. What the Government was faced with was taking money out of expenditure and the three areas of expenditure are social welfare, public pay and services. It was not enough just to try to increase revenue. That is part of it, and that is what we did in the previous budget. The...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: With regard to Senator McFadden's questions, we are trying to put the regulations in this area into legislation. Under the regulations, an applicant must have been a tenant for a set period and at the time he or she took out the tenancy, he or she must have been able to pay the rent. It is not true to say they would not look for rent supplement because one might have taken out one's tenancy...

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: The CWOs will still have flexibility at local level.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: If they were all like what I witnessed in Clonmel, they would deserve such flexibility. The CWO structure there is the model for how flood relief payments should be handled everywhere.

Seanad: Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2009)

Mary Hanafin: That is a good point of order. I only mentioned Clonmel because I visited the area and they have a model for dealing with flooding because, unfortunately, they had previous experience. They knew how to handle it. The CWOs in Athlone had not experienced this previously and they responded. Where flooding occurred around the country, the CWOs are expediting humanitarian aid and so on. I...