Results 1,181-1,200 of 34,618 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mortgage Interest Rates (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: As I said, there has been a reduction, although I understand the Deputy’s point that despite the 2.73% rate available since October this year, it is higher than European norms. In truth, the reason for that is multifaceted. While the credit risks and capital requirements in Ireland are elevated due to the historic loan experience and loss experience, the level of non-performing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Prices (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: It is important to put on the record that all the measures I have just mentioned, especially regarding the fuel allowance for many hundreds of thousands of households around the country who benefit to the tune of €914 from October to next April, are funded through the carbon tax. Those who oppose the carbon tax are trying to reduce the Government's ability to assist those households....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Prices (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: The initiatives we announced this week specifically refer to the increased costs of working from home. The Finance Bill included some new measures of support for people working from home. The previous scheme was very narrow, but we included a new scheme of statutory benefits in the Finance Bill that was passed in the House last night. There are benefits for people working from home in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Prices (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I understand the issue concerning having a buffer in place to address the volatility in prices, many of the causes of which are outside our control. The ESRI stated again this morning that it expects the inflation rate to peak by the end of the first quarter. I know that means we will continue to have rising prices, but as the year progresses, some of the issues that have emerged in terms...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Insurance Industry (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I propose to take Questions Nos. 97 and 100 together. At the outset, I am sure the Deputies will appreciate that neither I nor the Central Bank can interfere in the provision or pricing of insurance products, nor do we have the power to direct insurance companies to provide cover to specific individuals at specific prices. Everybody knows it would be deemed gross interference in the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Insurance Industry (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: As the Deputy rightly says, the categories of car insurance and home insurance are separate from the issue of business insurance. There have been reductions in car insurance, which affects every household in the country, this year and since the guidelines came in. Three major insurance companies were at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Insurance Industry (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I agree with the Deputies opposite when they talk about balancing the duty of care. Before we came in here, we had it already arranged that I will meet with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, at the very beginning of the new year to progress that legislation. Work has already been done on it in consultation with the Attorney General. It...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Prices (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important and timely issue at present affecting every household in the country. The final retail price of fuel is determined by a number of factors that include the costs of production, distribution, global market factors, international exchange rates, taxation, wholesale market contracts as well as individual retail pricing policies. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Insurance Industry (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 164 together. The action plan for insurance reform contains 66 cross-departmental actions that aim to improve the cost and availability of insurance. This reform agenda is progressing well. The first implementation report published by the Tánaiste’s Department last July showed that 34 of the 66 actions had been completed. Key reforms...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy. On climate change, credit unions are exceptionally well placed to provide loans for retrofitting schemes for individual houses throughout the country. As regards the common bond, in 2017 CUAC made five recommendations to open up the common bond to assist credit unions in developing their business model and growth potential. Those recommendations included the removal of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: The resistance came from the main representative bodies in the credit unions at the time, which did not want to touch the common bond because they felt it was established in the first place for very good reasons and they did not want to move on that. I have met all the representative bodies in the credit unions a few times in the past year and we now have movement from all the main credit...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of credit unions and the great role they have in society. Recent opinion polls have shown them to be the most trusted brand consistently over recent years. The Central Bank issued a report yesterday about the challenges facing credit unions so I will briefly bring people up to date on that. Credit unions' financial situation improved in the past...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: 519. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the waiting times for behavioural therapy and speech and language therapy for children, by county (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62501/21]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the committee for facilitating pre-legislative scrutiny of the insurance (miscellaneous provisions) Bill and for the invitation to appear before it today. My script has been provided to the committee in advance. Insurance reform is a priority for Government. In the programme for Government there are 21 measures related to insurance reform. The Action Plan for Insurance Reform,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy. That is a perfect question and the exact question I raised when this issue came to light. What the Deputy has just said explains the current situation concisely and accurately. In practice, where a business had a loss of the order of €100,000, to use the example the Deputy gave, and there is State support through TWSS, CRSS or rates not being levied on that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I agree with the Deputy but we do not have sufficient information to draft robust legislation on it now. That mechanism can work in the future immediately, prospectively and in relation to any new scheme introduced across any Department, like in social protection. That measure should be included in the scheme being brought forward through legislation. If there was a new scheme introduced...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: I thank the Deputy for her good wishes for Christmas. I utterly reject that I have misled anyone except those who chose to misinterpret what I said. The situation is very clear. In the programme for Government we said that we would deal with dual pricing. It is in the programme for Government and the national plan for insurance and we are following through on that. It is important that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: General Scheme of Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Discussion (16 Dec 2021)

Seán Fleming: That will certainly happen. People get confused in this debate. Some talk about differential pricing and others about dual pricing, which is a subset of that, price walking while others refer to loyalty bonuses or loyalty penalties. They are all quite different. I can understand that sometimes people use these terms interchangeably. We gave a commitment in the programme for Government...