Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 November 2021

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed)

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to comment on section 57. Amendment No. 112, which is coming up, relates to the same issue. The Minister has decided that the amount of money that will be accrued by the State in relation to the banking levy will be reduced by €63 million. The levy is being extended, but the revenue will be reduced by €63 million. The Minister has indicated that this is a result of KBC Bank Ireland and Ulster Bank leaving the market. However, they have not left the market yet. They are still servicing their loans and they will have a footprint here. Crucially, what will happen is that the loans will be transferred to the other banks, and therefore, the other banks will get larger and will have bigger capacity to make a contribution.

Despite that, the levy will be reduced. I think that is the wrong decision in the context of the discussion we had earlier where the Minister has facilitated, through the Finance Bill and not accepting amendments, that these same institutions will not pay tax on their profits for the guts of two decades. The levy we were getting from the banking sector will be reduced even though these deposits will go to these large banks, in the main. The levy was originally introduced in line with the DIRT tax which was in relation to the level of deposits that the institutions held. We understand the Minister is one of those who is resistant to the idea of 100% redress for the families whose homes are crumbling around them. It probably speaks to why he has not met them. I will not open that again but the reason he should meet them is not because I have asked him many times or that the families have but because it is the decent thing to do. In the context of the Bill that will come in from the State in relation to this, I put it to the Minister about a month ago about the motion that was passed, which, indeed, the Minister voted for on 100% redress and a contribution from the banks. Last week, the Minister confirmed to me in a response to a Parliamentary Question that he has not had any engagement with the banks about a contribution to the mica redress despite the fact that whatever scheme comes forward will improve the balance sheets of those banks substantially. I do not know what it takes. I would really encourage the Minister to go and see the families. I have spoken to them many times and told them that despite the differences of opinion between the Minster and I on politics and those between our parties that he is a decent person. I think that any person who goes into those houses and looks at what is happening to those homes and those families will be impacted. You cannot really learn or read about this, you need to see it and feel it for yourself. I think then that the Minister would have a different approach to some of these measures because the financial institutions need to make a contribution on this. Maybe he has something up his sleeve, such as a levy. This was one way of ensuring that a contribution would be made over the coming years by retaining the levy for a substantial period where the financial institutions would pay a significant price towards the final cost of the scheme.

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