Results 1-20 of 57 for carers speaker:Bríd Smith

Disability Justice: Motion [Private Members] (17 Apr 2024)

Bríd Smith: ...in the House, when we were discussing the referendum Bill, that it was not possible to compel governments to do something in future. This was in relation to the wording that "we will strive to support carers in this society". The weakness of the words "strive to" led to the falling of that referendum. Imagine that the Minister said it is not possible in the Constitution to compel...

An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (17 Jan 2024)

Bríd Smith: ...family. This is really important because on a daily basis this State lets people down in terms of its care, but that is not done within the family, it is done outside the family. We have family carers who have minded their parents all their lives. I use the example of Cherry Orchard Hospital where people are being forcibly moved from the wards and are being put into private nursing...

An Bille um an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (17 Jan 2024)

Bríd Smith: ...organisations that worked hard on this, swallowed a hard pill,and accepted in good faith that it is a step in the right direction. However, there is a "but", and it is a big one because family carers and carers outside of the home are treated so badly by the State. The State says it. We recognise that this care "gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be...

An Bille up an Daicheadú Leasú ar an mBunreacht (Cúram), 2023: An Dara Céim - Fortieth Amendment of the Constitution (Care) Bill 2023: Second Stage (14 Dec 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...only recognises care within the family whereas we tried to recognise care more widely than in the family, as did the citizens' assembly. This proposal is not sufficient to strengthen the rights of carers. The Minister's use of language such as "strive to" jumped out at me. Everybody is asking where that term come from. I asked the Minister when he gave us a presentation on the Bill...

Policing, Protests and Public Order: Statements (28 Nov 2023)

Bríd Smith: I will go first, followed by Deputy Kenny and then Deputies Murphy, and Barry. Our full solidarity, sympathy and our hearts go out to the children, their families, the carer and her family, and all in the community who were deeply affected by this horrible and unspeakable act. There are certain grounds for women and children in this country to be fearful of violence because they have...

Home Care Workers and Home Support Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (8 Nov 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...and noted that the amount of money received by private providers increased from €3 million in 2006 to €176 million in 2019. Private providers had more than 80 members, employing a total of 14,000 carers. Industry sources estimated that approximately 75% of the revenue of private providers is obtained from public sources. How is that more efficient, cheaper, better for...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (17 Oct 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...those healthcare assistants with a nursing degree/diploma from their home country and who have been working in Ireland for at least two years; if he will acknowledge that most of those working as carers will qualify for Irish nursing registration if the NMBI accepts the English language qualifications prescribed by the UK's Nursing Authority for foreign nurses; and if he will make a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Code (4 Oct 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will commit to increasing the carer’s allowance income disregard from €750 to €1,000 for couples and from €350 to €500 for single carers, with subsequent increases in the following years. [42872/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Treatment Purchase Fund (4 Oct 2023)

Bríd Smith: 193. To ask the Minister for Health if he will allocate funding in budget 2024 to extend the national treatment purchase fund to include timely assessment for both child and adult psychological services, as committed to in the programme for Government, and extend it to include occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy until backlogs are cleared; if he will fully fund...

Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023: Second Stage (20 Sep 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...and the people ran the city in their interest. To give that sort of control back to people again we need much more than just this mayor Bill and a few statutory bodies. It means bringing the voice of workers, carers and families into the decision-making rooms and hearing not just the voices of the business community and its owners and representatives. It would be remiss of me, having...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (5 Jul 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...family were offered a home before Christmas by South Dublin County Council. The family's means were assessed and the income was over the threshold. The reason was that Mrs. Murphy had worked as a carer, as asked and called upon by the Irish State, over and above the call of duty during the Covid crisis. Discretion is afforded to local authority to overlook that and allocate the family...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...has appealed the decision and hopes to win it, but the workers made the point to me that we need a fully funded and properly provided for early education service that is run by the State via these carers and their providers. They are wonderful workers and managers, but they are all the time reliant on a complex and fragmented system. Ultimately this is what we have to deal with.

Respite Care Services: Motion [Private Members] (30 May 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...services last year, in 2022, than they did in 2018. We have to acknowledge, and it would be a really good start for the Government to acknowledge, that respite care is on its knees. Having been a carer myself, I know that the grant that is handed out to people is welcomed but, particularly nowadays, in a cost-of-living crisis, the grant for many families is used to cover additional costs...

Reform of Carer's Allowance Scheme: Motion [Private Members] (22 Mar 2023)

Bríd Smith: I thank Deputy Harkin and her group for putting forward this important motion. I hope that given that we have set up an all-party committee on the role of carers, with a focus on young carers, this year and beyond we will begin to change the attitude and climate in this country towards the important role of caring for people in the family and at home. The statistics are startling and I want...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Home Help Service (1 Dec 2022)

Bríd Smith: 334. To ask the Minister for Health if a person who is in need of a carer to assist them in their home but who is unable to source any carer and lives in an island setting has any entitlement to additional supports from her Department in terms of accessing home help and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59930/22]

Social Welfare Bill 2022: Second Stage (22 Nov 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...is if somebody lives with a person who is not on a qualifying payment. I know of the case of a blind man on an island off the coast of Cork who came to me because he knows me from the past. Somebody who lives with him and helps him has been refused carer's allowance. Now, he has been refused fuel allowance for the first time because she is living there and she is not entitled to any...

Home Care: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (8 Nov 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...wheelchair-bound and people who suffered with their mental health. The whole point of the type of care that was delivered, as the Deputy said, through the HSE and the public sector was that the carer built up a relationship with those who they cared for. I have been involved in a few special committees during my time in the Oireachtas, which is a short time. One of them is currently...

Disability Services: Motion [Private Members] (11 Oct 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...UNCRPD": "- increase the Disability Allowance, the Blind Pension and the Invalidity Pension to €350 per week; - increase the Domiciliary Care Allowance to €350 per month; and - increase the Carer's Support Grant (formerly Respite Care Grant) from €1,850 to €2,500". I am supposed to be sharing time with Deputy Barry but he is not in the Chamber. I thank...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments (15 Sep 2022)

Bríd Smith: 251. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of raising all social insurance and social protection payments to €300 per week, excluding disability allowance, invalidity and blind pensions, and all carer’s payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45306/22]

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Commission of Investigation Report: Statements (14 Sep 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...the earnings disregard for this group, who had consistently lived in high levels of poverty, it cut the back to education allowance, it attacked community employment schemes, it cut child benefit payments for families with three children, it cut the back to school clothing and footwear allowance, it cut benefits to carers, it cut fuel allowances, it cut hearing aid grants, and it cut the...