Results 5,941-5,960 of 32,602 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Well the Deputy appears to have recovered from it pretty quickly. We are surely-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I would have thought the Deputy would welcome debate and that a perspective on what is happening in his constituency can be legitimately given in this Dáil by a fellow Deputy who also represents that constituency. I am well aware of the level of housing need that is there. I am well aware of the anxiety and trauma it is inflicting upon so many but I simply make the case to the Deputy...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Tóibín is the second Deputy who has attempted to write my legacy today. I do not know what has provoked that.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Tóibín is the Deputy who voted against the legislation to safely reopen our country and our economy. He voted against it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: He consistently voted against it. I remember the debates in here vividly. The Deputy came here, voted and argued against-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: -----the use of certificates that allowed the hospitality sector to reopen. If the Deputy wants to have a debate about my legacy, I ask him to look at what is happening now with the number of employers that are opening up again. I ask him to consider how quickly the PUP fell and the way in which the viability of employers was affected during a moment of the greatest challenge for our...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: -----that our debt, as a percentage of national income, will be back to what it was before the pandemic. I thank Deputy Carroll MacNeill for raising the issue of engagement. There is constant engagement with businesses, big and small, across our country, not to mention with Deputies, such as Deputy Carroll MacNeill, in this House.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am deeply aware of my responsibility for the additional €32 billion of national debt and understand the impact it could have in the future. I am not sure what element of that Deputy Tóibín was against. Was he against the employment wage subsidy scheme?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Was he against the pandemic unemployment payment? Was he against the additional money we put into our health services when the pandemic hit?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: What element of it was the Deputy against? What element would he have done differently?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: As for the closure of our economy, I fully accept that it-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: -----had an effect on so many. Yes, the level of closure that we had was higher than many but so was the number of deaths that we were successful in preventing within our country. I refer to the loss of life and the number of people we were able to help not get this disease. Those who had the disease in our country also fared fairly well. However, as I said, I know there are thousands of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The EU Commission published a proposal on the reform of VAT rates in January 2018 which would allow member states more flexibility in how they apply VAT rates. As the compromise text agreed at the meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, ECOFIN, in December has been amended significantly in comparison to the original proposal, the European Parliament will once again be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am very aware of the really important role that defibrillators play in sporting and voluntary clubs all over our country. I see them in many clubs that I go into. In terms of what will happen, firstly, the European Parliament has to come back with an opinion on the decision that has been made by the finance ministers at the meeting of ECOFIN. When the Parliament comes back with that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The reduced areas of flexibility refer to two new limitations that will be on member states. They are included in the third annexe of the current proposal. The first limitation will limit member states to applying a 0% rate to no more than seven value added taxable categories. The second limitation will limit member states to using a maximum of 24 categories to which a reduced rate can be...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I have no issue at all with making the terms of reference of the review publicly available. I will be happy to publish them. I do not want to do it at the expense of slowing down this process but there is no reason we cannot publish the terms of reference and make them available to the Deputy. The organisation will be external to the Department of Finance, as is frequently the case with...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The cost for 2021 was €191 million. It is the case that the total cost since the scheme was introduced in 2017 was €568 million. I agree with the Deputy regarding the essential role that public or social housing needs to play in ensuring that we have an overall housing policy capable of working more effectively. That is why more than 6,000 social or public homes will be built...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The total cost of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, and employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, was €10.26 billion. The schemes have played a role in protecting the jobs of up to 690,000 people in our country.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is the person who opposed the use of vaccination certificates for the reopening of the hospitality sector. I say to him time and again that he was against the closure of our economy and country but that when we tried to reopen them safely, he was against that as well. He was against both. I accept that the lockdown lasted many months. The Government accepted the impact it had...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (22 Feb 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme provides relief from VRT and VAT on the purchase and use of an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. There has been ongoing engagement between officials in my Department and both the Ombudsman and the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal since 2017 and I met with members of the board in March...