Results 21,301-21,320 of 33,049 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Unions (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Decisions on any individual products, such as the product Deputy O'Sullivan has referred to, are a matter for the regulator and the Central Bank. I am aware of work that the credit union movement is doing on this and on several other exciting ideas. I will find out the status of that product and I will report back to Deputy O'Sullivan on it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I should make clear to the House that the issue Deputy Naughten has raised is frequently raised with me in my constituency and elsewhere. Currently, there are no tax incentive measures specifically targeted at the providers of student accommodation. Section 50 of the Finance Act 1999 provided for a student accommodation scheme whereby expenditure incurred on student rental accommodation...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am being very clear that the tax relief that is probably at the source of the kind of support to which the Deputy referred was terminated in 2008. It is now gone from the tax code. There are currently no further tax exemptions available for the development of purpose-built student accommodation. It is a serious matter. The Ministers for Education and Skills and Housing, Planning and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The level of support the two Deputies are referring to involve the breadth and speed that have made such a difference in protecting our country at a time of significant risk to jobs and our public health. When claims are being made about the future of those supports, let us also acknowledge that those supports were introduced by this and the previous Governments and have saved jobs and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Wage Subsidy Scheme (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The very reason the temporary wage subsidy scheme was introduced was to protect jobs and income. It has had a massive effect in doing that. It is possible that employers, because of the financial circumstances they are in and concerns they might have about their viability, may work with their employees in efforts to protect the future of their company and the jobs of people working in that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Wage Subsidy Scheme (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The purpose of this scheme is to protect jobs. That was the overriding objective I faced at the time that I introduced it. It is possible that companies are reducing the wages they are paying their staff because their revenue has gone down, they have lost clients and they are worried they might not be around tomorrow. That is the reality facing those who are working in those companies at...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I am aware this is a matter of concern to many who are participating in the TWSS. Even at the very point the TWSS was launched, I and the Revenue Commissioner were at pains to make this point clear. I will answer the specific questions Deputy Doherty put to me. At the end of 2020 Revenue will have all available information for each employee who received TWSS payments. Revenue will also...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a very helpful suggestion because I am aware of the concern with regard to this matter. It is worth making the point that the whole purpose of this scheme being brought in is to keep a job, and the reason the payments in respect of it need to be taxed is that most social welfare payments are, in principal, taxable. It is important to maintain fairness in how income supports that are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: It is precisely because I understand that so many are suffering with costs relating to crèches, paying their mortgages and worries about their income that we brought in the wage subsidy and PUP schemes. When the Deputy refers to the anxieties of citizens and taxpayers, that is what motivated me, the previous Government and this one to bring in both schemes. I am concerned about the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: That is also something that the Revenue Commissioners will want to look at but the answer I gave to the Deputy earlier is that the Revenue Commissioners will be flexible in how they implement this. He made the point, which I have often seen reported, about the concerns of those on low-incomes. While it is the case, I hope, by the scheme working that if a tax liability is generated for the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: It is due to my work, and work that was done by the banks, that the payment breaks are in place in the first place. These are 160,000 payment breaks. That means there are tens of thousands of mortgage holders availing of these breaks. I want to ensure that if this issue develops across this year, we are not in a position that any additional profit is being made from this and that these...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: What I have done to support those who are facing the kind of pressures that the Deputy is referring to includes the wage subsidy scheme, the introduction of the PUP, the support that has been made available to companies to keep them in operation to keep them trading across that period. That is the track record of this Government and the work that I have done. The payment breaks that have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I became aware of the clarified guidance from the European Banking Authority, EBA, on this matter shortly after it issued. That is when I became aware of it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I cannot remember the exact date but I became aware of it when it was published by the European Banking Authority. In dealing with the banks, I have made it very clear that it is critical that this period, when Covid is having such a great effect on the lives and incomes of our citizens, not be used as an opportunity to make additional profit. When we see the financial statements which the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not fully understand the allegation Deputy Doherty is making but I have stated again and again in responding to questions this morning-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: My guiding interest in all of this is to protect and support the tens of thousands of families who are under pressure as a result of this pandemic. My track record in all of this is clear. I answered the Deputy's question regarding when I became aware of the engagement between the Central Bank of Ireland and the European Banking Authority earlier on. At that meeting, the banks made clear...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I will not comment on the affairs of any one particular company because its tax affairs and profitability are matters relevant only to it. The key point in regard to what Deputy Paul Murphy has just said is the thousands of people such a company employs. My guiding principle in the development of the wage subsidy scheme and the work we are doing is to protect those jobs, the families who...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The whole purpose of the wage subsidy plan and the changes we intend to make to it is to keep people in work. The other issues to which the Deputy has referred are best dealt with in other Government policy decisions. The purpose of the wage subsidy scheme is to keep people in work and to ensure they have a job in the future. More than 400,000 of our citizens have kept their jobs and have...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Economic Growth Rate (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The European Commission’s summer economic forecasts signals a deep contraction in European economic activity this year, with a gradual recovery next year. EU GDP is projected to shrink by around 8¼ per cent, while global GDP (excluding the EU) is expected to contract by 3.9 per cent this year. There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a deep global recession and the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Stability and Growth Pact (16 Jul 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: As outlined in the Stability Programme Update, published by my Department in April, the so-called ‘general escape clause’ of the Stability and Growth Pact was activated for the first time in March of this year. The activation of the clause temporarily suspends the normal fiscal requirements applying to Member States under the preventive arm of the Pact in 2020. This decision...