Results 21,741-21,760 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Before moving on to address this amendment, I must provide the following clarification to the House. On 9 November, the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and the Taoiseach considered section 28 of Finance Bill, 2017 as published. As part of that process, there was discussion on an amendment to section 28 of the Bill as it then stood which had been put forward by...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I have no interest in Ireland being part of a race to the bottom. I want Ireland to have a tax code which is competitive and addresses issues which are part of the growing consensus on how taxes should be collected globally, and that is what we have. I reiterate that we have made many significant changes to date and are committed to making more. The foundations for making some of the...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Maybe during Christmas.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am aware of the publication of Christian Aid's report on tax, which highlights a potential aggressive tax planning structure that it believes has been used by some multinationals. The report alleges that Ireland's corporate tax residence rules and our tax treaties facilitate this structure. Our tax residency rules were amended in 2013 and 2014 to shut down known aggressive tax planning...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We have not met them.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On a point of order-----

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I understand that the practice of the House is that one cannot make a charge against somebody who is not here to defend himself or herself. I understand that is the order of the House. It is understandable that many Members of the House want to make charges based on the motives of people or choices that are being made that cause great difficulty and anxiety for people. Deputy McGrath,...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not asking the Deputy to withdraw the comment. I am asking that the Acting Chairman provide guidance to the House regarding the Standing Orders on this. That is what he is here for. Having checked it, he should provide guidance on the matter. Deputy McGrath has not made a general comment. In his further clarification to the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, he made a reference that...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will answer the question. I am happy to come to a committee and engage on this matter in the new year. I cannot commit to a formal report as part of the Bill for the reasons I have given. I have listened carefully to the concerns raised by Deputies in regard to loan origination. It is a matter on which I want further analysis, and when I have received that, if at all, I will be happy to...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 sets out the Irish regime for the taxation of special purpose companies set up to securitise assets. The tax provisions are intended to create a tax-neutral regime for securitisation and structured finance purposes. Loan originations involve a section 110 company fronting for a foreign bank and either lending directly to larger, more...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not comment on an individual company. If the activity to which the Deputy refers is due to the operation of a double taxation agreement, and if a company is not paying tax in one jurisdiction, it will pay tax on that economic activity in the other jurisdiction. In regard to what I said earlier, not only have I asked the Revenue Commissioners to investigate the matter, I have also...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As for recommendations from the Department of Finance, different options were outlined to me with regard to every budget day choice that I had to make. The pros and cons of different options were outlined and it was left to me to make the choice and that is what I have done. That is what I am stating in the Dáil here this afternoon. Several questions were put to me that I have not...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The decision that was made by the then Minister, Deputy Noonan, at that point on the management of capital allowances and the rate at which their depreciation could be discounted in the tax code was the right decision then on the basis of what we understood about the magnitude of those assets then, on the basis of how we treated at that point other assets in the tax code, and on the basis of...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I have explained what we are doing. Any inference that I am in any way looking to reduce the value or the impact of changes made to how these organisations were taxed in the past is wrong and inaccurate. My Department and the Revenue Commissioners regularly review the tax code to see if we need to make any changes to either deter avoidance or deal with discrepancies that might lead to...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The reason I have not spoken to the section itself is because we are not on Committee Stage and I am, therefore, dealing with each of the amendments before me. To deal with the issue again, as the Deputy will be aware, this year we extended the scope of this provision by also catching shares that derive their value from Irish property, which we debated on Committee Stage. The intention was...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: To clarify, this refers to the shares that derive their value from the property. While colleagues may differ in their evaluation of the policy overall, the amendment deals with shares that derive their value from property that are held in section 110 companies. As for Deputy Boyd Barrett's remarks, we do not tax retrospectively. We differ on that. Regardless of what the asset or the...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 35:In page 32, line 11, to delete “interest paid” and substitute “interest or other distribution payable”. Section 19 amends section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which deals with the taxation of special purpose structured finance companies. The current regime was set up to create a tax neutral regime for securitisation and...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We dealt with much of this matter last night. I appreciate the views of the Deputy on it but as I explained last night, I profoundly disagree with the approach he has taken. I reiterate that corporation tax policy and decisions we make on how to tax activity within our country is a legitimate part of an economic and political model for a country of our scale and size, located where we are...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Interest Rates (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware that I, as Minister for Finance, have no direct function in the relationship between the banks and their customers. I have no statutory function in relation to the banking decisions made by individual lending institutions at any particular time and these are taken by the board and management of the relevant institution. However, it should be...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Sovereign Debt (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy will be aware that we have already repaid early some 81 per cent of our IMF loan. This early repayment, which was completed in 2015, generates significant interest savings. It also reduces the refinancing requirement in the coming years as debt that was originally to mature over the period July 2015 – January 2021 has been replaced with longer-term debt. The...