Results 461-480 of 27,660 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: -----the Department of Transport reduced the fares?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: I have a third question. There is now a backdoor method, and I have raised parliamentary questions with the Minister about this as it concerns me. More and more buses are full, which is great news. It means we need more buses but it is good that people are patronising them. Even in rural areas, however, buses are full. For journeys on certain private bus services now, to ensure people...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: I do not accept that, because the Minister’s Department has the ability to make it a condition of providing the money to the operator for the scheme that they do not charge for a booking. As I said, booking is now not a question one's favourite seat; it is a question of getting on the particular form of public transport at all. The irony is that I do not think Iarnród...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: I have to say that it is totally welcome. We made the recommendation. One group in particular, which represented people with epilepsy, was before the committee, so we widened our recommendation. We are absolutely delighted about that. I think everybody in the committee would recognise that it was a major step forward that everybody who is disqualified from driving due to medical reasons...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: My first question is the big one. I see there was a surplus of approximately €4 billion in the Social Insurance Fund. Is that correct? Will the Minister tell us if that was better than was expected in last year's Estimate? I think it was €3.5 billion last year and €4 billion this year. Was the outturn last year better than had been forecast in terms of the surplus?...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: If we keep employment going-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: -----and the economy growing, the Social Insurance Fund grows. If it grows, it means that things we were told were totally unaffordable become affordable. At this stage, will the Minister give us the total accumulated surplus of the Social Insurance Fund?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: That is after taking the absolutely seismic shocks of the downturn between 2008 and 2011 and the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: The Minister is assured they are still right.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: Those 2015 and 2019 projections did not anticipate Covid-19.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: It hit the fund. Notwithstanding that, we are in quite a good position.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: When it is topped up, it is repaid from the top up. Is that case?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: The Social Insurance Fund is normally topped up from the Department of Finance, if I remember rightly. If we look at the Government Estimates, that Department gives a loan and is repaid over time. Does that Department just give cash injections?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: I am not saying it that way; I am saying that the Government had loaned money previously to the SIF but it was paid back. If we look at the Exchequer-----
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: What is interesting is to see the long-term picture here and how that performs because nobody can deny the fact that people are living longer. There are some mitigating factors given that more people work after 66, so they might even be getting a State pension but are also paying tax. There are a lot of complications. However, what is interesting to do is to track performance versus the...
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: Regarding the community centres investment fund for the large projects, when will the announcements be made?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: That means in the next six weeks?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: Will this be in the next seven weeks?
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: The next few weeks. I will hold the Minister to that.
- Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (7 Feb 2024) Éamon Ó Cuív: Regarding LIS funding, has the Minister a database of eligible applications that shows the demand for that scheme, as compared to the amount of funding Government is providing for it? Why is it the Department of Social Protection rather than the Department of Transport providing it, I never know.