Results 6,381-6,400 of 32,602 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will briefly go back to the practical example the Deputy gave me earlier on. It was also in recognition of the kind of issues the Deputy is referring to that we changed the CRSS. I would expect that some or all of the businesses the Deputy is referring to that were not in a position to trade after 8 p.m. or that had their business significantly impacted by public health regulations could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The answer is up to six months. The second question was on the trading plan for Bank of Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The date of May still stands for that but we keep it under review to see if the targets we have are achieved before that point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a matter for the ECB to answer rather than me. The answer that I imagine it would give is that it did so in recognition of the liquidity support it was making available to those banks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: In the engagement I had with officials on this, at no point did I receive guidance that it should be in place. A big feature of why our schemes have worked in the way they have is the only two features for accessing them have been where a company is with turnover and where it is with compliance. Behind that the company will have been impacted by public health regulations. The low level of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy has named a taxpayer so how many people does it employ?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am aware of those companies that are in the public domain but it has not been reported back to me because it was not a reporting requirement for accessing this scheme. However, this scheme is the most significant and successful one for the retention of jobs and that is the measure against which it should be judged. The Deputy is raising the case of an individual taxpayer. He stated the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: How many times did he raise it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy used the phrase "so be it". That is not a luxury that was open to me when I was dealing with the threat of a mass unemployment crisis. At no point in the exchange we had did I seek to attribute to him responsibility for failures I may or may not have. The case I am robustly making is that by any independent evaluation of the employment wage subsidy scheme, it has played a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It needs to be asserted here because this is a classic tactic by the Deputy and Sinn Féin. He is creating an inference that I am seeking to prioritise the wealthy in any scheme that I bring in. The reality, however, is that this scheme was brought in to save jobs and it has been successful in doing so. I refer to the assertion I made and stand over - it is my view that if we brought...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will go into that matter fully in a moment but, before I do so, the Deputy is right in saying that I am not in a position to tell him the total number of taxpayers that paid dividends across this period. I am, however, in a position to tell him the number of employers that returned money to the scheme due to decisions they made or because they were not able to comply with the criteria of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will have to check whether the Attorney General was involved in that advice. I can check that for the committee and revert to it. The Attorney General is not always the first port of call. Rather, it is the legal unit within my Department or that of any other Department that is seeking legal advice. I will check whether it went beyond that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, the Department and I are in contact with the insurance companies very regularly. As regards communication we have had with them directly on this matter, this has happened through Insurance Ireland. The Minister of State and the Department contacted Insurance Ireland to make clear our concerns on this issue. That happened last year as this issue...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I have not met Insurance Ireland on this matter in recent months.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I believe he has. I am happy to check that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not comment on the detail of it. It is fair that I check it first before I revert to the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: The action we have indicated we will take is the legislation we will be bringing forward in respect of a higher level of transparency on this issue. I was involved in that as senior Minister in the Department and I will be involved in further action but, before I give an indication as to whether further action will happen, it is appropriate, as senior Minister, that I wait to see what will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: It is because these are the same insurance companies that we want to be providing insurance cover at reasonable prices to businesses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: Let me go on to answer that question. Earlier, the Deputy asked me what action I took. When I tell him what the action was, he dismisses it as a joke. He had already decided to dismiss it as a joke before I gave him my answer. In regard to what more I am going to do, the Deputy is interested in a headline. If I make a commitment in regard to action, it is action that I have to take. As...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Covid-19 Payments and the Sale of AIB shares: Minister for Finance (19 Jan 2022)

Paschal Donohoe: I am glad the Deputy has recognised the risk.