Results 22,761-22,780 of 33,118 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I want to address some of the tax elements of this amendment. I was very pleased to work with the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, to bring forward this amendment. I want to emphasise two points on it. First, this is as much a preventative measure as it is about trying to support those who have already suffered great disability due to terrible accidents on farms. We worked closely with...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I was not lecturing the Deputy yesterday. We were engaged in a debate. Each of us was making political points on an important section of the Finance Bill. It was not a lecture. With regard to the amendment, the costs of assets used to generate taxable trading profits are recognised as legitimate business expenses. While these costs are not fully tax-deductible in the year they are...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I acknowledge the work the Deputy has done on this matter, which he has raised in our debates on several Finance Bills. As he acknowledged, I made changes on foot of that. We debated this issue on Committee Stage. I will not repeat the arguments because the Deputy knows what they are and he knows that I take this matter seriously. As I indicated to him in the previous debate, it is my...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy has shared new information with me and I will look at that. I can remember the exact debate he and I had on this a couple of years ago when I said this tax credit is predicated on quality employment being made available. He asked me in the Dáil Chamber what would happen with the tax credit if that quality employment was not available. I said at that point we would have to...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take amendments Nos. 69 and 70 together. The trading profits of companies in Ireland are generally taxed at the standard corporation tax rate of 12.5%. Some of the main features of the current corporation tax regime are its simplicity and the fact it applies to a broad base. Our growth-friendly tax system has contributed to improvements in living standards for all citizens and...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Barry is correct that there is a change of circumstances with what is happening with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. I make two points on the Deputy's analysis. The first is that, with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, it does not change the fact that other countries are still eager to maximise the amount of international jobs and investment they could...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Let us begin with the science. I have listened to Sinn Féin quote the ESRI at length in other debates, so let us quote the report that Deputy Carthy, in his contribution earlier, said did not exist. I quote directly from the early pages of it: Moreover, a carbon tax is the most efficient way of incentivising carbon abatement; that is, of achieving a given reduction in carbon...

Finance Bill 2020: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Doherty is well able to dole it out. He has to take the argument back. If he wants a debate, let us have a debate about this. When the next young boy or girl comes up to Sinn Féin in rural Ireland and asks what it is doing to respond to climate change, how will Sinn Féin answer with credibility? Given the increase in carbon emissions that are causing such harm to our...

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2020: Financial Resolution (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move: THAT Section 125A of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 (No. 31 of 1999) be amended to provide for the specified rate of stamp duty in respect of an insured person in respect of relevant contracts renewed or entered into on or after 1 April 2020 and on or before 31 March 2021 and on or after 1 April 2021 in the manner and to the extent specified in the Act giving effect to this...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Primary Medical Certificates (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: The Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme provides relief from VRT and VAT on the purchase and use of an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. The cost of the scheme in 2019, excluding motor tax, was €72m. The Scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled persons as a driver or as a passenger and also to certain organisations....

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Data Protection (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department has not been the subject of an investigation by the Data Protection Commission in the period concerned.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Availability (3 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 191 to 194, inclusive, together. The Central Credit Register (CCR) is established by the Central Bank of Ireland under the Credit Reporting Act 2013. Under that Act, lenders are obliged to submit personal and credit information on loans of €500 or more, and to enquire on the CCR when considering loan applications for €2,000 or more. Lenders...

National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019: Motion (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I move: That Dáil Éireann authorises the Minister for Finance, pursuant to section 6(1) of the National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019 (the ‘Act’), not to pay the prescribed amount (€500,000,000) under section 5(2) of the Act into the National Surplus (Exceptional Contingencies) Reserve Fund for the year 2020 having regard to the...

National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019: Motion (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputies Mairéad Farrell, Nash, Bruton, Gould, Shortall, Richmond, Buckley, Boyd Barrett, Ó Murchú, Tóibín, Mattie McGrath, O'Donoghue and Pringle for their contributions, all of which I listened to and noted. The contributions of the Opposition Deputies caused me to reflect on where we stand now regarding the challenges we face and how we have equipped...

National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019: Motion (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: That is what Deputy Gould said. He said that the Sinn Féin policy was that it disagreed with the rainy day fund being set up and is glad that a deposit is not being made in it at the moment. That is the Sinn Féin stance on the matter.

National Surplus (Reserve Fund for Exceptional Contingencies) Act 2019: Motion (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a perfectly legitimate political point of view. Of course it is and I am not disregarding it as a point of view. However, it is reflective of the fact that in response to budget after budget and during the general election campaign, Sinn Féin stated clearly that it disagrees with the policy I was pursuing to balance our books and have a surplus. It is precisely the approach...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 163, 164, 190 and 191 together. The CRSS is a targeted support for businesses significantly impacted by restrictions introduced by the Government under public health Regulations to combat the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. It applies to businesses who, under the specific terms of the regulations, are required to prohibit or significantly restrict...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe:  As the Deputy will be aware, employees may claim a tax deduction in respect of (a) the cost of travelling expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of their employment or office; and (b) the cost of other expenses incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of their employment. However, these deductions do not ordinarily include the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Disabled Drivers and Passengers Scheme (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 166, 182 and 185 together. The Disabled Drivers & Disabled Passengers Scheme provides relief from VRT and VAT on the purchase and use of an adapted car, as well as an exemption from motor tax and an annual fuel grant. The cost of the scheme in 2019, excluding motor tax, was €72m. The Scheme is open to severely and permanently disabled...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Unions (8 Dec 2020)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 167 and 196 together. As the Deputy references in his question, under current Government health measures, which limit numbers allowed at public gatherings, credit union annual general meetings (AGMs) would not be able to proceed as normal. The Government has, therefore, brought forward the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020 to allow credit unions to...