Results 10,981-11,000 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Defective Block Redress: Redress Focus Group for Banking and Insurance (5 Jul 2023)

Damien English: It is a fair point but I think we are spreading a little bit of fear in this regard. I think qualified engineers, no matter who is paying them, are going to do their job right on this. I think we have to be fair to them. I need to read the new guidelines to be absolutely sure, but it would be unfair to spread fear. I take the point regarding the guidance on funding. We have to...

Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil (12 Jul 2023)

Damien English: There is no guillotine.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (12 Oct 2023)

Damien English: 94. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 441 of 11 September 2023, if he is aware and if he will agree that the Revenue Commissioners methodology of taxpayer units includes all unearned income and part-time workers, and that if unearned income was removed along with part-time workers, the amount of the population that pays the top rate of tax at 40% would be...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: The amendments are fine. The thrust of this is to try to free-up board members' time to focus on strategy as well as involve the officers a lot more. That makes total sense to me. The general thrust of this Bill is around trying to strengthen the work of the credit unions, strengthen the roles they have and the services they provide but also making it somewhat more encouraging for new...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: We can have conversations around the development of relationships but the thrust of this legislation as it developed over the past couple of years, and certainly the conversations around it, have been focused on strengthening the relationship between the credit union movement, the Central Bank and the Department. Certainly in the past 12 months, that relationship seems to have developed a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: The purpose of the credit union movement is to avoid unnecessary costs and fees. I imagine the framework would reflect our discussion here and the intention would be to minimise fees. The whole thrust of this Bill is to make it possible for members of a credit union that does not offer proper mortgages or SME lending to easily go down the road to the next one. There are issues around which...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: It would be worthwhile for us as a committee, when we get to the framework stage, to consider that there has been much positive engagement with the credit union representative bodies and sector and they could come in to discuss the detail and framework. I totally agree with Deputy Doherty that we do not want to have legislation in place that does not facilitate or catch all the scenarios,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: That is how I read it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: If there are any issues to clarify, we can do it on Report Stage. It would be better if it were the other way round.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: I echo Deputy Doherty's comments about the engagement around this. I can see that best practice was set here around positive engagement with the sector, which made our job of working through amendments and getting them dealt with easier. I thank the Minister of State, her officials and her team for that engagement over the past year. I also thank them for the tone that has been set. It is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Damien English: I might be taking it up wrong. In every organisation, many members will not engage with it until they need to. They know the credit union is there when they need it but they might disappear for two or three years and probably would not be in the habit of popping in and responding. We allow for change here but I presume the member will have to look for it in the traditional way. I could be...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: I support the extension of the help-to-buy scheme. It has been a significant scheme which has helped more than 40,000 people to buy a house since 2017. We have to remember why it was brought in in the first place. It was because there was a barrier to purchasing a house. People could not get a deposit and the supply was reflecting that, since that house type was not being built and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: I will make a quick comment on this. I have listened to a great deal of commentary about the help-to-buy scheme for many years and have seen many reports about it. Every report and comment nearly misses what we were trying to achieve. In that regard, this has been one of the most successful schemes we have ever had. Builders were building different types of homes for different customers...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: The original efforts to try to step in to help people were discussed during parliamentary questions in April or May. The Minister said he was willing to try to assist people. The conversation and context was about those who are being hit with massive rate increases, mainly those outside of the non-traditional banks and funds. The Minister was very clear that he was attempting to try to...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: My understanding was that it was to give the owner of the PRSA more time to draw down the percentages they want to draw down. Is that not correct? They do not have the rush to take it down, if they are working till 70 or longer than they used to work. That is my understanding of it.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Damien English: They can draw down more than the 4% a year if they choose to at a later-----