Results 6,421-6,440 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 do not anticipate that we will revise the 30% guidance in a way that makes it easier for companies to move onto the scheme. I will impart a key message regarding the future of these schemes across 2022: as public health regulations allow and as we get to a point where our economy is able to normalise and businesses are able to have more normal trading conditions for longer, the Government...

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: There are some businesses that did not get the level of support they felt they should have but we moved heaven and earth to support as many employers as we could. From the Deputy's point of view, he will raise with me employers that are not in the schemes but we have had more than 70,000 employers who were in them. The Deputy might be able to tell me at this meeting. If the business...

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: -----but if it is a company and is down 30% or more, the EWSS is only conditional on turnover. It does not require a business to have a premises as well.

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: Sure.

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 members of the Government who are directly involved in this have given an indication that they are hopeful about our ability to remove many of the public health restrictions that we have in place. The legal ability is there for some of them to be in place up to 31 March but I hope that, if the trends of the past number of days continue over the coming days, we will be in a position 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: The banking review is up and running and we have a team in place in my Department which will work on and oversee it. We will soon seek the views of members of the public and stakeholders on retail banking. I will let the Deputy and committee know about that. We will give consideration to the kind of event or format in which those views can be heard publicly and considered. That process is...

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 for the CCPC, which is involved in evaluating that transaction, to make a conclusion on that matter. I categorically cannot make any assessment of or offer a view on that matter, while the CCPC is evaluating a very important commercial transaction. That is a matter for another day and one for the CCPC to answer. It would not be appropriate for me to give a view on it. It begs 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: I thank the Deputy. No, I cannot comment but I thank her for raising the matter.

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: We will do that this week.

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 thank the Chair for raising the matter. I will deal with the issue of tied agents first. The Chair raised it with me in one of my previous appearances before the committee. Since then, I have received correspondence on the matter from some of the individuals who were involved in this issue. I want to acknowledge to them the Chair's ongoing interest in the matter and that he has raised...

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 reiterate that since the Chairman raised it with me, I have received communication on the matter. I want to acknowledge that this is an issue he has taken a lot of interest in and I am sure he has played a role in trying to support people who were affected.

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 fact is that the Chairman has outlined a very clear legal process that may happen. While it is appropriate for him to raise the matter, I cannot comment on it. I know this issue is under consideration at the moment. It is being dealt with in the courts, perhaps in the way the Chairman has just indicated. At this point, however, given how long this has been going on and some of 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: I have already received 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: I did so on foot of the Chairman raising this matter with me at the previous committee meeting.

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 thank the Chairman.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I was aware of the rates issue and I thank the Deputy for bringing it up. I will have my officials look into it because I appreciate that at this point in the year, given everything that has happened with this disease, the strain and anxiety that smaller hospitality businesses are facing is very intense. I will look into that for the Deputy. On the EWSS, I need to indicate to the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for her question. I will share the full breakdown with her by sector which I have available to me. Very broadly, around 26% of the scheme was made available to the hospitality sector. After that, sectors such as retail are very high recipients of funding from the EWSS. It is available for sectors. I do not have the figures available now, but I will get the information...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 98 and 106 together. I am advised by Revenue that 22,100 businesses have claimed the CRSS and that a total of €704 million has been paid out. For the EWSS, that figure is now at more than €6.6 billion in respect of 696,900 employees and 51,700 employers. In County Clare, the EWSS is in use for 630 employers and 6,725 employees, while...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for recognising the role this role this scheme has played. It has been invaluable in supporting our domestic economy and it will lay the foundation for the continued economic recovery of Ireland from this pandemic. It is valued by many businesses that are on it at the moment. Regarding the particular matter the Deputy has raised, I respectfully say that there is not an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Dec 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am not interfering with any business; I am supporting business. While I appreciate the companies to which the Deputy has referred are facing many difficulties and challenges and they have like many other businesses had a tough couple of years, I reiterate that fundamentally the reason they are outside the scheme at the moment is their trading performance is better than a 30% decline versus...