Results 24,161-24,180 of 33,175 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his question. I am not in a position to comment on the tax affairs of any particular company. Obviously what is driving the process overall is the understandable issue, namely, to address the gap between how tax structures are currently developed across the world and the increasingly digital nature of the global economy. Deputy Doherty asked whether the Department...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: International Agreements (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am both publicly and privately making the case for the kind of agreement that Ireland would be willing to support. I am talking about my views on the rates and on the need for an agreement that accommodates small and medium-sized economies and not just the larger ones. In terms of what I believe an acceptable model could look like later on in the year, if agreement can be reached, it is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Union (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The European semester is a mechanism to co-ordinate economic policies across EU member states to help achieve overall economic stability and growth. On 2 June, the European Commission published the 2021 European semester spring package. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, this exceptional semester cycle has been adapted to facilitate the implementation of the recovery and resilience...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Union (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputy Barry is correct that at other points the country-specific recommendations referred to how we can get young people trained and back into good jobs quickly after being unemployed. This is important in the context of this pandemic because young people have seen such a big change in their incomes and such a loss of jobs. I assure the Dáil that any plans we put together will be...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: European Union (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Many of the various training and educational programmes announced by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, earlier in this pandemic have been implemented. For example, we have had good uptake in the apprenticeship and training programmes that have been put in place. The Minister for Social Protection has said that as we get to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Vacant Sites (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Under the vacant site levy provisions of the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, planning authorities were empowered to apply a vacant site levy of 3% of the market valuation of relevant properties listed on local authority vacant site registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% for sites listed on local authority...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Vacant Sites (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: If I look at the performance of the vacant site levy, 89 sites were valued at €132 million in 2018. They were liable at the 3% rate in 2019 in respect of their valuation for 2018. For 2019, those 89 sites grew to 181 sites and, in 2020, grew further to 215 sites. Demand letters were issued for 79 of those 215 sites and, as the Deputy has said, €21,000 in payments was received...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Vacant Sites (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I believe I have seen the piece of correspondence to which the Deputy has referred but just in case I have not, I would be happy to consider it if she could share it with me this evening by handing it to me during a division or later on. I am aware of a few models in respect of this issue. The Deputy correctly made the point that this is not about how we would generate revenue, it is about...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic and Social Research Institute (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 55, 82 and 131 together. The Deputy has offered a view about my view towards deficits. We ran a deficit last year of €18.5 billion. The deficit this year, expressed as a percentage of our GDP, will be larger than the deficit for last year. I am well aware of the role of deficits and Government borrowing in stepping in to support our economy....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic and Social Research Institute (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputies for the different questions. In response to Deputy Nash, the answer is yes, I do. I am well aware of all the challenges faced by so many with regard to housing. We are putting in place a huge amount of additional investment to respond to it. I will say to Deputy Connolly that I am aware of it and I have read it. I agree with some but not all of it. Am I going to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic and Social Research Institute (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I have beliefs about the value of our society and great beliefs regarding the role of a strong State to meet the needs of our society. That is what I, this Government and the previous Government have been working so hard to do in responding to the many needs and challenges we know are there for our citizens in finding the homes they need at affordable prices and rents. I acknowledge that we...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: One of the Department’s main concerns is to ensure that SMEs have access to sufficient lending or liquidity and that access to credit for SMEs is maintained. The Government has announced a range of measures to assist companies to deal with the consequences of the Covid-19 restrictions and to ensure that they have access to sufficient liquidity. Lenders are obliged, under the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I respectfully suggest to the Deputy that I do not believe my answer missed the question she put to me. She asked me a question about credit scores. I made the point that we have credit records rather than credit scores and I outlined the way in which that would be dealt with by banks and by the regulator. A point on which I agree with the Deputy is that we, of course, want to put in place...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I very much agree with what the Deputy said. In towns and villages throughout our country, there are small businesses that are even more important now than they normally would be. That is why the Government has put in place so many supports to help them. It is why we have the warehousing of tax liabilities and an employment wage subsidy scheme that is due to continue until the end of this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The financial resolution passed by the Dáil on 19 May provides for a new higher stamp duty rate of 10% where at least ten residential units, excluding apartments, are acquired by an individual or corporate entity such as a company in any 12-month period. This new measure is triggered when a residential unit is acquired on or after 20 May 2021, with the look-back 12-month period...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I made those decisions motivated by how we can put in place policies that deal with the issue that needed to be dealt with, which was the bulk purchase of family houses, while getting the balance right also allowing more apartments to be built in the future. I have information on the kinds of purchases, including forward purchases, that took place in recent years. However, on the question...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The 10% stamp duty rate is ten times what is applied under the standard rate. It is one third higher than the stamp duty rate that applies for commercial property. It is many times higher than the standard rate of stamp duty because of the intention I have to deter these kinds of purchases in the future. Of course, it must be seen in conjunction with the other aspect of that policy,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Financial Services (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. My officials, and officials in the Central Bank of Ireland, as our independent regulator, have been carefully monitoring developments to identify potential challenges in banking and financial services that could arise from Brexit and to take steps to prevent them occurring or, if that is not possible, to mitigate them. Thus far Brexit has had limited impact on the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Financial Services (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I believe there are going to be further opportunities to grow the financial services sector here and to gain additional jobs. This is something the IDA is working very hard to deliver at the moment. To date we have been successful in attracting additional investment into our country as a result of the efforts of the IDA and the Department of Finance. The priorities I have at the moment are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Financial Services (15 Jun 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. The opportunities really are there. Our opportunities are more likely to relate to how we can increase the scale of the employers which are currently here, and how we can encourage them to have more operations and functions located here. If one looks at where we stand from an employer point of view, the breadth of employer and the breadth of investor we have at the...