Results 4,541-4,560 of 36,118 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Who can avail of reliefs for education fees at this time? The Minister is saying that if one is sending a child to education, the first €2,500 this year, the first €2,750 next year and the first €3,000 the year after will not be subject to relief. Anything above that is subject to relief. In last year's Finance Bill, the Minister introduced a provision called the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister knows the reason that so many are in education - there are no jobs.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: No, I do not. I am delighted that they can get places in third level education.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Let us be real and have a sensible debate, the reason they are in education is that they cannot get a job. There are people on courses in education with masters degrees but they cannot find a job and they must go back to reskill in other areas. Their hope is that with more qualifications they will benefit when the economy picks up. The Minister keeps repeating that the imposition on a...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister has said a number of times that the imposition is €150 over this period of three years, whereas the imposition on a family with a child going to university or college is €750. The decision to be made is whether the Finance Bill will try to lift some of that burden, so that blame for this imposition should not be only on the Minister, Deputy Quinn, given collective...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Yes. I do not know if the Minister disputes the findings of the credit union survey we cite quite often, which showed that 1.6 million people have less than €50 at the end of the month after essential bills are paid. If such people could access the €750 we are talking about, they would have an additional €50 at the end of many months. The question is whether the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Exactly.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: That is the point.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: The point is that this argument is based on the simple belief that one should pay for one's third level education because one acquires additional skills at that level. Many people use the skills they acquired at primary and secondary levels. The strong position that education should be free at the point of delivery was carried through for many years. That is what should be here. However,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: If that is the case, perhaps we should propose an amendment on Report Stage to increase the relief. Would the Minister be open to that?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: It is up to the Minister to accept them.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: This section of the Bill deals with preferential loans. I asked the departmental officials to explain the proposed subsection (j), on page 19 of the Bill, during the briefing. Perhaps the Minister can do so now. It is proposed to change the "specified rate" in relation to preferential loans. The current 4% rate is being increased to 5% and the current 13.5% rate is being decreased to...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I want to focus on the preferential loans from companies to employees which the Minister said will affect the market rates. In the first case we are replacing 4% with 5%, therefore the preferential loans from companies to employees are set at 5%. This Finance Bill will reduce the rate to 4% to reflect the norm in the markets. However, the markets are completely different and are going in...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I am not concerned about the rate that is falling or the rate that is increasing from 12.5% to 13.5% because that is the direction in which banks are going but in respect of the mortgage rate, that is falling from 5% to 4%, which is completely out of kilter with the trend of where mortgage rates are going this year, or the projected trend and where they have been for the past six months....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I want to make a general point, but do not oppose the provision being made in this Bill. I appreciate there is a limited number of staff working on taxation measures and that there is pressure on them in terms of the Finance Bill. We got a very good briefing on the Bill earlier and I thank the officials for that. The Finance Bill is the Minister's own legislation and the majority of the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I will propose the amendment if the Minister will read the briefing note.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I understand what the Minister said in terms of the shock to individuals because of the drastic increase. The effect of this amendment will also be of benefit to the Exchequer because by pushing more money into ARFs it becomes applicable to the imputed distribution charge. This means those affected must pay tax on a certain proportion of it and therefore it will be of benefit to the Revenue...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: In reducing the limits on the AMRF, approved minimum retirement fund, the Minister is forcing the amount currently in the fund into an ARF. Is that the case?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2013: Committee Stage (6 Mar 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I have an example. The existing minimum amount is €119,000. If that is being reduced, €56,000 will be pushed into an ARF and then become laible to income tax. It means a person will be obliged to draw down a certain amount. These figures were increased in last year's Finance Bill. It means his or her tax liability will be increased as a result, but his or her minimum...