Results 33,021-33,040 of 33,289 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I see. I just wanted to make sure I understood the question. It is quite an achievement to have recouped all the money that we put into the banks. It was terrible to be in a position where that money needed to be put in in the first place. I can well understand the difficulty of that decision but, of course, there are all the costs that imposed on our society as well. The reason we...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: We will continue to monitor where we are with regard to how economic conditions evolve. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I are very much aware of the impact this can have on households and businesses. If there was ever a moment to have the public finances in surplus or good health, it has been in recent years. If we were facing into all of this while borrowing, I would be very concerned...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy and look forward to engaging with him in this committee in the years ahead. The number one contingency plan is running budget surpluses and putting those budget surpluses into the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. That is the main fiscal budgetary insurance policy that we have and the most effective one: to run budget surpluses and...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I will get the ball rolling on that. Eoghan Murphy's book is really important for lots of different reasons, which I will not go into because I will take up the Deputy's time. I will deal with the policy issue the Deputy raised. This Government is certainly aware of the high importance of investment in infrastructure in coming years and the need to get that right in an integrated way...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I will come in briefly. A member of my team here, Mr. McCarthy, has an important external engagement. I am very happy to stay, but is it okay if he steps out at this point?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Annual Progress Report 2025: Discussion (24 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy is undoing his fine comment from earlier on now.

Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, given this is important legislation and it is happening a little earlier in the evening than might have been anticipated, and in fairness to the Opposition TDs who want to speak on it, if you would be agreeable, could we perhaps suspend to allow them to be here? That is unless Deputy Clarke is dealing with this.

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I thank Deputies, despite the varying views on the legislation, for the opportunity to take the Bill through the Dáil this evening. A six-year exemption from local property tax, LPT, applies to certain properties that have been affected by the use of defective concrete blocks in their construction. The 2021 LPT Act provided that...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with the amendment first and then respond to some of the points that Deputy Doherty made. The local property tax is an important part of our tax system, which has raised more than €6 billion in revenue since it was introduced in 2013. It has provided vital funding for our local government and local services. The Report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare, published...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: The option is also open to people to pay weekly as opposed to paying it off in a single go. On the choices that are there, to deal with the options put forward by Deputy Doherty, we differ and we will do so respectfully much of the time. On the point he made about the third rate of income tax, the third rate of income tax would be a rate of income tax that we would charge to people who...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: That €8.4 billion or €8.6 billion is mostly made up of corporate tax receipts which we know could be transitory and could go. In recognition of that risk, we need to ensure we have a tax system that can continue to bring in the revenue needed to pay for public services that matter so much within our country. The Deputy referred to an SNA and a nurse. I refer to the many other...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to respond. I never dismissed the fact it will be difficult for some people - indeed for many people - to pay more. Every time I have spoken on this legislation, including this evening, I have acknowledged repeatedly that while the increase over a year is 5% or 6%, which in cash terms for many people will be €20 to €23, for...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for making clear his and the Social Democrats' support for the principles underlying local property tax and their support for the value of trying to protect and broaden the tax base. This amendment would require the Minister for Finance to lay a report before the House compiling statistical information on patterns and quantities of residential property ownership and to...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not know why the Deputy went there. I was just saying I am very happy to provide him with the information he requested, which I did, and to outline the rationale for my position on his proposal, as I did. I tried to do so briefly because I think the argument I made is a clear one. I furthermore stated my view that putting a requirement in legislation is not the right way to get...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy made reference to the Commission on Taxation and Welfare. I should point out that this commission recommended that we should not do what the Deputy is proposing. It said that "in the case of multiple property owners, a Local Property Tax surcharge should apply to properties not occupied as the principal private residence of the property owner or a registered tenant". The...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I have said that I do not support the rationale for what the Deputy is doing. I do not accept that I have made the argument for him. The Deputy obviously has a different view. I am happy to look at the issue in other ways.

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 4: In page 3, to delete line 27, and in page 4, to delete lines 1 and 2, and substitute the following: “(a) section 7; (b) section 8; (c) section 11.”. This section amends the exemption for properties damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks in their construction as provided for in section 10D of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012....

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: When local property tax was introduced in 2013, the Government decided that a liability to the tax should apply to all owners of residential properties with a limited number of exemptions and no deductions. Limiting the exemptions available allows the rate to be kept low for those liable persons who do not qualify for an exemption. The proceeds of the local property tax are largely used for...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for outlining the rationale behind this amendment. I understand his point and his argument that if an estate has not been taken into charge and that leads to the local environment there not being of the same quality as in the estate beside it that has been taken into charge, then that should be reflected in the local property tax bill of the person in the estate that it is...

Finance (Local Property Tax and Other Provisions) (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Jun 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 6: In page 5, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following section: “Amendment of section 15A of Act of 2012 7. Section 15A of the Act of 2012 is amended— (a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “€105,000” for “€50,000”, and (b) in subsection (3), by the substitution of...