Results 24,581-24,600 of 33,175 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Nash. After the summer, the Commission will be launching a public consultation with regard to the future of the fiscal rules. As the Deputy will be aware, the fiscal rules are suspended until 2023 through the activation of the general escape clause. I differ somewhat from Professor Thygesen and the assessment of the fiscal advisory board. I believe some changes and reforms...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his questions. We have not done any further analysis. The reason for this is that the outcome of the OECD process is not clear at the moment. That is why I cannot sign up to it. What I mean by that is, if the Deputy looks at the figures he has used at the moment, very respectfully, it is not saying an agreement of 15% is on offer It is not saying, for example, that...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I will do that briefly. The Minister, Deputy McGrath, has thoroughly covered everything else. I believe the fiscal rules will be reapplied in 2023. To have the general escape clause activated all the way up to the end of next year is helpful for our planning. It is also important that we plan for the reactivation the year after that. Deputy Moynihan will be familiar with the different...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for reminding me of that. The agreement contains review clauses and there are review clauses for some aspects of the agreements. However, if a country is in that agreement then it is reasonable to expect that it will be at whatever rate is agreed until well into the medium term and for many years. As the agreement is drafted, there is no exit clause that allows a country...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: It is difficult to put any years on it because that has not been finalised or nailed down but we would be talking about many years. I do not want to create the expectation that a country can sign up to this agreement and then leave. The Deputy is not suggesting this but we should both be clear that a country cannot go into the agreement, see how it goes and decide to leave after a couple of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes. I do.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: An assumption within the summer economic statement is that we expect wages will grow. “Cost competitiveness” refers to two elements. The first is how we can change overall levels of productivity within our economy. Some parts for our economy are really productive. We want to increase the productivity of others. That is why the educational programmes to which the Minister,...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (15 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The revenue forecasting that we have done so far has mainly focused on the reallocation of taxing rights. Regarding the analysis of how it could change again, I re-emphasise the point that I made to Deputy Nash, if I may. We are not looking at an agreement that is clear about the issues of base, taxing rights or even rates. All of the figures in the document are conditioned on the basis of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Framework for Parliamentary Engagement Throughout the Budgetary Cycle: Discussion (9 Feb 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Chairperson and the committee for the opportunity to discuss the current framework for parliamentary engagement in the budgetary process. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the committee's report and look forward to the discussion we will have. At the outset we can all agree that there has been much progress in our broader approach to the national fiscal framework over recent...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Framework for Parliamentary Engagement Throughout the Budgetary Cycle: Discussion (9 Feb 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I have heard the principle floated in the UK and in other countries, but I would like to see the details of how it would actually work. Let me use Amazon as a good example. I know the Deputy is a big reader and maybe he might be a customer of Kenny's or so many wonderful independent bookshops at the moment. It is not clear to me how it would be possible to design a tax that would be fair...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Framework for Parliamentary Engagement Throughout the Budgetary Cycle: Discussion (9 Feb 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: May I come in on that? Did the Chairman say "hands-free"?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Framework for Parliamentary Engagement Throughout the Budgetary Cycle: Discussion (9 Feb 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I take the Chairman's point about the issue of timing. Clearly, the sooner we can have material shared with the committee the better, but we do face challenges in doing that from a departmental point of view. A concrete example would be the stability programme update, SPU. We would struggle to do an SPU any earlier than we do at the moment because even when we do that update, we only have a...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Framework for Parliamentary Engagement Throughout the Budgetary Cycle: Discussion (9 Feb 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I was not aware at this point that the operation of our semi-States was being significantly curtailed by state aid requirements. I would also cite the example the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has used, where there has been a very significant increase in the ability of the ESB to borrow and that has been delivered while still being consistent with our state aid framework.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Enterprise Support Services (27 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: In accordance with the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union, from 1 January 2021 onwards, goods imported from Great Britain must be declared to Customs, and the goods are liable to customs duty (if applicable) and VAT at import. The Agreement is clear that this applies to all goods, and it leaves no possibility for a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Grant Payments (27 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: The Department of Finance does not provide any grants for the purchase of a vehicle but instead administers the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers (Tax Concessions) Scheme which provides relief from Vehicle Registration Tax 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 Scheme is open to severely and permanently...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Vehicle Registration Tax (27 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that the number of vehicles registered for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) to end June 2021, and the tax collected on these registrations, are provided in the table below. These figures are provisional and are therefore subject to potential future revisions. Total Receipts €m ...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Issues (27 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: In accordance with the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union, from 1 January 2021 onwards, goods imported from Great Britain must be declared to Customs, and the goods are liable to customs duty (if applicable) and VAT at import. The Agreement is clear that this applies to all goods, and it leaves no possibility for a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (27 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 294 and 443 together. I am advised by Revenue that the VAT rating of goods and services is subject to EU VAT legislation with which Irish VAT law must comply. In general, the EU VAT Directive provides that all goods and services are liable to VAT at the standard rate, currently 23% in Ireland, unless they fall within categories of goods and services...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Yield (27 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 295, 401 and 402 together. Revenue publishes detailed quarterly and end of year statistics on Local Property Tax (LPT), on its website at link: Among other information, these statistics include the amount of LPT collected by each Local Authority in each year since 2013 and for the first two quarters of 2021.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Insurance Industry (27 Jul 2021)

Paschal Donohoe: As committed to in the 2020 Programme for Government, Government is prioritising reform of the insurance sector with particular emphasis on motor, public liability, and employer liability insurance. The whole-of-Government approach being taken through the Action Plan for Insurance Reformtherefore sets out 66 actions which aim to improve both the cost and availability of this key financial...