Results 19,181-19,200 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar
- Other Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I reiterate that there is no mandatory retirement age in Ireland. Other countries have had a mandatory retirement age and have abolished it. Some people are required to retire from particular jobs at a certain age. The Deputy is right when she says that some of them do not want to do so. Quite frankly, I do not think they should have to. Many people in their 60s who have lots of skills...
- Other Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Neither issue is directly under my remit. Public sector employment is a matter for the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. Employment law and employment equality law are matters for the Minister, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, and the Tánaiste, Deputy Fitzgerald. We are all part of the same Government. We need to join this up better. I think this matter should have been dealt with when the State...
- Other Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Obviously, it is correct. The Deputies should think about it logically.
- Other Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: If somebody stays in a senior post in a school or a hospital for an additional five years, somebody else will have to wait longer to replace him or her. I do not think that matters. We do not disagree on this. I do not think people should be required by contract or by law to retire at 65. The age of 65 is not old anymore and it is a long time since it was. We need to get to grips with...
- Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The overall concern in recent years has been to protect the value of weekly social welfare pension rates. Annual expenditure on pensions is approximately €7 billion and is increasing at an approximate rate of €200 million, or €1 billion every five years. Maintaining the rate of the State pension and other payments is critical in protecting people from poverty in old...
- Other Questions: State Pensions Payments (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: According to the most recent figures available to me, 43,609 recipients of the State contributory pension are in the rate bands affected by the changes introduced in 2012, 57.8% of whom are women and 42.2% of whom are men. I do not have data on how many people are on alternative payments as a result of these changes. It would be difficult to estimate such a number with accuracy. More...
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Central Statistics Office, CSO, survey on income and living conditions, for 2015 shows that for lone-parent households, the consistent poverty rate is 26.2%, up from 25% in 2014, that the deprivation rate fell from 58.7% in 2014 to 57.9% in 2015 and that the at-risk-of-poverty rate is essentially unchanged at 36.2%, compared to 36.5% in 2014, a slight fall but not one that is...
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The Deputy quoted two years. Anyone can use statistics for two years and compare them. I will take a different year, 2006, when the boom was getting "boomier", when consistent poverty rates among lone parents were 33%. Consistent poverty rates for lone parents are lower than they were in 2006 - ten years ago - when we were in the middle of the Celtic tiger boom, when Fianna Fáil was...
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The most important fact to take away from this and the quarterly national household survey is the powerful effect that employment has on poverty rates. There is a three-quarters reduction in poverty if a lone parent is at work. One can play around with the welfare system but welfare is not the answer. If employment can reduce poverty by three quarters, that should be the main part -...
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I do not know how the Deputy can say that is a fact.
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: We do not actually have-----
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: Yes, they like to interrupt the facts.
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: We do not have a register of wealth in Ireland so I am not quite sure how the Deputy can know that as an absolute fact. There may be a survey or an opinion on it but that is a different matter. More importantly, we do not have a register of debt in Ireland and it is quite facile to calculate somebody’s wealth and not deduct the debts from that. There are some very wealthy people in...
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: There are some very wealthy people in Ireland who people think are wealthy but when their debts are deducted, they are not wealthy at all.
- Other Questions: Poverty Data (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: They are in negative wealth. One thing I hope the Deputy would welcome from the SILC report- I did not hear him mention it although I know he has an interest in economic equality, particularly in income inequality - is the most interesting fact that our Gini coefficient has gone down and that income inequality in Ireland is at its lowest since 2009. Ireland is becoming more equal and I hope...
- Other Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The total number of 65 year olds currently in receipt of jobseeker's allowance is 2,583, a further 2,635 are in receipt of jobseeker's benefit and 3,193 were signing on for jobseeker's credits at the end of January 2017. There is no statutory retirement age in the State, and the age at which employees retire is a matter for the contract of employment between them and their employers....
- Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: The difficulty I have is that it is not just my own Department.
- Priority Questions: Legislative Programme (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I am not afraid as a Minister to take a decision that my officials do not recommend. I have done so on many occasions in the past few years. The OECD, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and our own Pensions Authority all say much the same thing, that is, that our minimum funding standard is not too onerous and I cannot ignore that advice. It is the advice I am being...
- Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: My Department fully recognises the need to support staff and promote positive mental health. It has been very active in the provision of training and supports in this area in recent years with a very positive response from staff. In conjunction with Mental Health Ireland and the Civil Service Employee Assistance Service, mental health awareness workshops have been held in a variety of...
- Other Questions: Departmental Staff Training (21 Feb 2017)
Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Mental health and mental well-being are important for both staff and clients. Many of the clients are very vulnerable and very stressed and can encounter staff in very difficult situations. Staff members need to be trained to deal with this and can often be subject to abuse and very bad experiences. I have heard of many such...