Results 17,041-17,060 of 34,135 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for bring this matter to my attention and the attention of the House. One of the functions of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman is that he may advise and, as appropriate, make recommendations to the Government in respect of any proposed legislative changes concerning financial services or pensions. I sought the ombudsman’s observations on section...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Given the work the Deputy has done with the office of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, I hope he is aware, and I am sure he is, of how seriously that office takes its responsibilities and the important work it does in this area. The office has indicated to me that it does not believe there is a need for this change to the Act. All I have in the details supplied as part of this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I have three points in response. Regarding the resources available to the office of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, I recently visited its new facilities located around the corner from the Houses of the Oireachtas. Those new facilities allow the ombudsman’s office to meet citizens and follow up on issues raised. It will also be possible for the Financial Services and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Data (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: As I said, it is precisely because of the concerns the Deputy has just articulated that I have decided to make this change. In terms of its revenue impact, in the grander scheme of what we collect, I expect it will make a small contribution over time. I have decided this change has to be made on the grounds of tax equity. It was an appropriate and a correct decision at a point in 2012,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Data (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am happy to continue this dialogue with the Deputy and the committee throughout this year. The only objective of the scheme should be that we are providing support to individuals who play a role in either the retention or creation of jobs. Having evaluated the scheme against those objectives, I decided that the reapplication of the cap was needed in the context of the growth of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Issues (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: When the UK leaves the EU, it will become a third country from a customs perspective and the free circulation and free movement of goods between the EU and the UK will end. This will increase substantially the number of businesses that will have to complete customs formalities and other related obligations for trade with the UK and through the UK landbridge to the EU. This will present a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Issues (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The commitments I gave in regard to figures for additional staff for the Revenue Commissioners were that an additional 400 would be recruited by the end of this March, and we will deliver that. A further 200 will then need to be recruited and, in turn, we will deliver that as well. The 3,000 to which the Deputy referred might be the number of people who applied for these roles. There was a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I will be doing so in order to ensure that Rosslare Europort is at the right stage of readiness for dealing with a disorderly Brexit. I understand that the purchase of the proposed site has been completed. If I am wrong in that assumption, I will contact the Deputy about the matter in the coming days. However, my understanding is that its has happened. In the context of what will be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: To answer the core question regarding how we will deal with the area between the port and where the checking will take place, a traffic management system will be required to do that. A system of automatic number plate recognition will be put in place to ensure that as trucks and other vehicles are leaving the port, we can track how and when they arrive in the area within which they will be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Reliefs Data (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: SARP continues to be an important incentive. As the Deputy is aware, under the Finance Act 2018, there is no change in the level of income tax relief available in 2019 for existing beneficiaries of the programme and the new cap of €1 million is scheduled to apply to such taxpayers from 1 January 2020. In bringing forward such an approach, I was mindful of the need to proceed in a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Credit Union Lending (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The credit unions are being supported precisely because we are recognising the potentially larger role they could play in the sector. A review of this has been under way and it has been led by the Central Bank because it is the regulatory body for the credit unions. I met representatives of all the credit unions a number of weeks ago in my Department and it was a very productive meeting to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The European Commission proposal for an interim digital services tax, which seeks to impose a 3% levy on the turnover of certain companies' digital activities, continues to be debated at a political level among member states. The Commission's own impact assessment of its proposed digital services tax estimated that the measure would yield approximately €5 billion per annum across all...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: My understanding is the consultation process is public and I will share that information, assuming it does not undermine our ability to project our interests within the OECD. When the work is complete, as it will be in the coming days, and when we share it with the OECD, I will share all I can with the Deputy and the committee. I do not see any reason I would be unable to share it at all,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: It will take some time to do this work because of the complexity involved in trying to move this forward on a global level and the highly technical nature of it. The current timeline has the objective of a final sign-off by the end of 2020 and, after that, it will take at least two years to consider how the roadmap could be implemented domestically and internationally. Those kinds of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that in keeping with their role and responsibilities, they are strongly focused on facilitating the efficient and timely movement of legitimate trade post Brexit. During 2018, the Revenue Commissioners chaired an interdepartmental group established to consider the adequacy of port and airport infrastructure and facilities post Brexit. The group...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Credit Union Lending (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: Credit unions are already allowed to offer mortgages to their members. Indeed, a number of them do. As of September, there were mortgages worth €171 million outstanding across the sector, representing a 17% increase year on year. However, the amount of mortgage lending that credit unions can engage in is limited by the Central Bank's lending regulations for credit unions, which...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Credit Union Lending (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for recognising our acknowledgement of the credit union movement and the support that we have put in place for the sector in recent years. A review of whether it would be appropriate to allow the movement to play a larger role in the provision of mortgage loans is under way. I expect that work to come to an end later this year. It is appropriate that we allow it to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Banking Sector Regulation (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: We are treating banks the way we treat every other business. Every other business has the ability to treat its losses in a certain way. As the Deputy will be aware, the way losses are treated on the balance sheets of banks has an impact on banks' value and ability to perform. I did not indicate at any point that our banks are unprofitable. In many cases, they have returned to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Banking Sector Regulation (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: The research I published, which the Deputy referred to, also stated that the way taxes and losses are treated on the balance sheets of banks has a significant effect on those balance sheets. If we were to change that treatment, there would be consequences for the ability of the banks to meet the needs of customers in a more cost-effective way. The Deputy knows, of course, what would happen...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Brexit Preparations (28 Feb 2019)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department’s budget 2019 macroeconomic forecasts, endorsed by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, incorporate, as a central scenario, that the UK will make an orderly exit from the EU with a transition period until the end of 2020. Moreover, the impact of this assumption is to lower the level of GDP by almost 2 percentage points. This in turn feeds through to the fiscal...