Results 22,741-22,760 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: -----at the end of the day in terms of decisions we make, but I try to make all these decisions in the context of what I said to Deputy Ryan earlier, that I am deeply aware of the anxiety and difficulty faced by people who cannot get a home. We are trying to do the right thing to change the supply of homes in Ireland to deal with this. The matter of the long-term direction of Rebuilding...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: In respect of the plan on which the Minister, Deputy Murphy, is working, he will make that decision but it will be funded. I am engaged in discussions with him at the moment regarding the future of funding for the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for 2018. Any decision he makes will be in the context of the base funding he had for 2017 and any agreement I make with him...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is correct. I meant as we become even more of a net contributor. That contribution is definitely worth paying for our membership of the Single Market and a project which is all about realising the political freedoms of our citizens. The value of the European Union in the coming years will become even more apparent than it is now.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The figure moved to €4.1 billion because we made available a further €1.5 billion, or €500 million for each year from 2019 to 2021. My expectation from dealing with many large infrastructural projects, be they roads, public transport, schools or homes, is that, due to the length of the planning process and the need to go to tender, the large expenditure on many of them...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I enjoy many forms of fizzy drinks.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I just refer to them as that.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The reason for this policy is to reflect the fact that health policy and evidence in this regard show major benefits to our society, particularly its younger members, if large amounts of sugar`sweetened drinks are not consumed. The way in which the matter is measured and viewed by ourselves and other countries is in terms of the amount of sugar contained in a sweetened drink.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It is something I welcome. It lessens some of the negative health impacts we are trying to address because it reduces the consumption levels of many of these drinks. It proves the merit of what we are trying to do. We are introducing this measure. It is one of the few measures on which I have been crystal clear, given it was flagged in last year's budget in anticipation of drink...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It will apply to sweetened drinks that have sugar in them.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It played a valuable role at a point in time in the creation and retention of jobs.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. The measure is under consideration by me and others. I have made no decision on the matter. I will announce what we will do on budget day. It does not matter how short the Deputy's questions are. That is the stance that I am adopting on all taxation measures. Any statement from me now on an individual measure has consequences.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As a former Minister for tourism, I was heavily involved in the sector at the time. I do not believe the measure contributed to a change in working circumstances or incomes in the sector. Given where we were in the economic cycle, it played a positive role in the creation and retention of jobs. I will now examine the economic evidence surrounding that tax rate and, as with every other...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The changes in hotel rates in Dublin send out a signal regarding the competitiveness of our country and the ability of people to come and visit us. When I was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I made the point that if trends that were evident then continued, it would cause a difficulty for us in the future. However, I also stated that I understood that the reassessing of price...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I am having very intense discussions with every Government Department at the moment. When the Taoiseach introduced the concept of hidden fiscal space, he was talking about savings that could be delivered in terms of efficiencies and making sure we can provide existing services better. That led to the publication of papers in the comprehensive spending review, which looked at every...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Every Government Department is in that vessel with me.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: As the vessel has a price tag of €60 billion, I am not sure if it is particularly heavy. We spend a huge amount of money on the delivery of additional and current services. I do not want to get too lost in discussion of vessels, heavy vessels, fiscal space or hidden fiscal space. One of the things I regret about the focus on fiscal space is that we always have a look at the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Given that I am dealing with Government Departments, my expectation is that if and when we make savings or identify ways in which services can be better delivered, they are reinvested back within those Government Departments. Any resource choices that I make overall will be consistent with the 2:1 split between expenditure and taxation that has been agreed between the Government and Deputy...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: It will be ongoing until the last moment.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Business of Select Committee
Ex-ante Scrutiny of Budget 2018 (Resumed): Minister for Finance (27 Sep 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: On the status of the live register and projections for it, it is a completely different thing from the discussion we are having on the so-called hidden fiscal space. The Deputy is correct about the forecast for the live register. We look at this point in the year for next year. In response to the questions Deputy Lahart put to me a moment ago, I tried to explain that the hidden fiscal...