Results 10,161-10,180 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Since this dreadful disease arrived in our country, the Government has: brought in the temporary wage subsidy scheme, which we then replaced with the employment wage subsidy scheme; reduced the standard rate of VAT to support retailers; reduced the VAT rate for the hospitality sector in order to support it; brought in a Covid restrictions support scheme to support businesses that are closed...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I ask the Ceann Comhairle to bear with me. I have only been given two minutes in this round. My understanding is that I get seven minutes.

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: This is the first round on this group of amendments.

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am responding to the first round of interventions. The challenge I would then face is that businesses that are allowed to reopen and have done so would then ask why they cannot access funding under the Covid restrictions support scheme if businesses that can open but remain closed can. Pubs would take this view and restaurants and hotels would quickly follow. It goes back to the point I...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 11: In page 12, line 12, to delete “2020” and substitute “2020)”. As indicated on Committee Stage, I propose a number of amendments relating to the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS. This has been a very challenging period for businesses and it may take some time and additional cost to reopen once the restrictions are lifted. I...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: A total of 1% of taxpayers in Ireland pay 23% of the total income tax paid in the country. This reflects the reality that those who have the most are paying the most. The top 20% of earners in the country will pay 77% of the total income tax and USC that is collected in Ireland in 2020. When Deputy Boyd Barrett calls for those who have more to pay more, the reality is that we have a tax...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, put in place the music stimulus fund to which the Deputy referred to support artists at this very difficult time. She has the ability to continue the fund into 2021 and I hope those artists who were unsuccessful in gaining access to it thus far may be able to do so later this year or next year. ...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course I acknowledge there are significant challenges within the rental market. It could be the case that some things in the rental market will be changed by what is happening with Covid-19 or its aftermath, but that does not take away from the great challenges that are there at the moment. That is why, for example, rental pressure zones are in place, as the Deputy is aware, and it is...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not take lectures on any elites on our island from the richest party in our country.

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Tax relief in respect of rent paid was abolished in budget 2011 and is no longer available to those who commenced renting for the first time from 8 December 2010. This followed a recommendation of the 2009 report by the Commission on Taxation that rent relief should be discontinued. The view of this independent commission was that, in the same manner in which mortgage interest relief...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: For my part I will call out the hypocrisy of Sinn Féin members, who say they want to tackle climate change but oppose carbon taxation. I will call out the hypocrisy of a party whose Deputies lambaste measures in our country while standing over weaker and less impactful measures in Northern Ireland. I will not accept claims by Sinn Féin, Deputy Doherty or any Opposition Deputy that...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I have listened to Deputy Doherty. Issues such as the role of income tax credits and the future of our income tax code can be, and I am sure will be, considered by the commission which the Government will put in place on taxation and welfare which will provide an input to the Government and the Oireachtas on decisions we may have to make in future to ensure we can pay for better public...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The flexibility Deputy Doherty refers to was shown by the Revenue Commissioners in dealing with this matter, in terms of how they have dealt with this issue when the pandemic has changed so much in our country. The research Deputy Doherty is looking for will be dealt with in the context of the tax strategy group papers, which will be done as they are normally done, by next summer. This is,...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am aware of the matters raised by the Deputy and I can advise that my officials have been in touch with their counterparts in Northern Ireland regarding this matter. In that regard, I also note that this relief applies not only to persons with UK-based employment but also in respect of employment in the EU and double taxation arrangement network regions in compliance with Ireland's treaty...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: As I said in my earlier contribution on the amendment, we need a balance. It is the case that we will have far more people working from home than we had before the pandemic. We can develop a balance that is good for them and that is, in turn, good for their employers and the Irish economy. I am in favour of finding that balance. I was in favour of finding the balance before Covid-19...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to make two points before going into the detail of the issues that have been raised by the Deputies. In the debate that is to ensue regarding the right balance between working at home and working in an office that is generally located in a city, we should acknowledge that there is a value in having city centres that are vibrant and busy. There is a value in that and this is not just...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with the points made by Deputies Canney and Naughten. We must look at how we can ensure that properties which are either derelict or that have been vacant for a very long period can be renovated and returned to use. I am seeing that work taking place now in local authorities through money being made available to them by the Government and the use of grants. It is the...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I also acknowledge all the work done by the officials in facilitating the smooth running of Committee Stage of the Finance Bill. I want to use my seven minutes to clarify a matter that was raised on Committee Stage in an exchange on the employment wage subsidy scheme. A debate took place between Deputy Doherty and me on amendments Nos. 176 to 180 which related to section 61. The issue...

Finance Bill 2020: Order for Report Stage (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move: "That Report Stage be taken now."

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (2 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The restart, restart plus and restart top-up grants are a contribution towards the cost of re-opening or keeping a business operational and re-connecting with employees and customers.  In the case of a sole trader who is within the charge to income tax, such a grant would be taken into account in computing amounts chargeable to income tax.  I am advised by Revenue that the tax...