Results 6,401-6,420 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: That is good.

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 answer that question. Of course, I want to be in a position so that, if taxpayers’ money has been used in a way to underpin a payment that has been made, that money is returned to the State. As I said, however, in my view, that can only be done legally in a prospective manner. What I find extraordinary about the outburst from Deputy Doherty is that he referred to my...

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 risks are there, no matter what the Deputy is suggesting.

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 conclude. This has to go both ways. In the exchange I had earlier, I made the point to the Deputy that a Government deciding that our answer to an issue we are facing is that we are going to tax the employer more brings risks to it. The Deputy acknowledged that to me a moment ago when he said it does. He acknowledged there are risks. If we have large global insurers that we want...

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 what the Deputy is arguing.

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 consistent. Deputy Doherty is against the data centres and does not seem to acknowledge the point that data centres play a role in employment in our country. He does not have a good word to say about any bank but when two banks leave Ireland, he is the first to criticise that. Then, when we are here on the insurance companies, he wants more insurance at better prices with more...

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: Deputy Doherty made reference to my record earlier and said I have no record to stand over. The record I have to stand over is being Minister for Finance at the moment the pandemic hit and at the moment at which our country was dealing with Brexit. Across that period, we have grown and maintained jobs in our country and we have protected the taxpayer.

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 is quite happy to make a general comment.

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 record will show what the Deputy did or did not say.

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: Of course, in my answers to the Deputy, I pointed to the legislation we were going to bring forward and I also pointed to the legal advice I have received that does, to a degree, constrain me. I could go on to all of the other legislation that the Government has brought forward, for example, the guidelines with regard to personal injuries, and the other things the Government is also doing to...

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 ongoing discussions with my officials in regard to all matters with regard to banks. That particular matter has received their attention over the last number of years.

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 think it has been, maybe, referenced on an occasional paper that I have received but it is not something that I have considered or am minded to do.

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 decision that is made budget to budget but I have no plans to bring it forward. No plans.

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 that will be dealt with in the context of the review of the retail banking sector that is now under way. I am very much aware that there are concerns regarding customer access and ability to access the kind of local decision-makers. This is something that we are considering in the context of the banking review. In terms of the engagement that I have had with 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: I am a little but I did accept the invitation to come in and I will answer all of the questions that are put to me. I hope that I do not live to regret 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: They are higher, Deputy. The reason they are higher is because of the requirement that our Central Bank has, and the ECB has, for our banks to hold a high share of capital in the context of the consequences of the banking crisis a decade ago. So they are higher and the reason for that is that the level of capital one is required to hold is judged by looking backwards over a number of years,...

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 would not characterise it in terms of punishment at all. What we are discussing here, and what the Deputy is questioning me on, is how much capital the banks are required to hold and why. As I said, they do hold a higher level of capital than their European peers. In fairness, to describe that as punishment, if that is what the Deputy is doing, is not a term I would use. While I do...

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: While the Senator asks his other questions I will get the information.

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 Senator asked about the value of what is currently warehoused. The answer is €2.9 billion, relating to 98,000 individual businesses. It comprises €1.36 billion in VAT and €1.4 billion of employers' PAYE. Clearly, the warehoused sum is large. On the future of supports, as I have said many times in the Oireachtas, we have to get to a point where the change in...

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: On the first question, our plan is to phase out the payments gradually, beginning on 1 February. We are not going to move to a position whereby the payments will fall from €350 for some workers to zero. The plan we have, as it is currently legislated for, although I do have the ability to vary much of it by ministerial order, is that we will move from €350, to €203, to...