Results 11,261-11,280 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Everything was going well with Deputy Doherty's contribution until he made the point that he had not been expecting me to introduce the amendment and that my word that I would undertake this report would have been enough. However, I have decided to introduce it because we need to crystallise and understand this issue. There has been much debate in recent months on the role of such a tax. I...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I agree that an important starting point would be to define what constitutes a vacant home. One element will involve defining for how long a property has been vacant. We can begin to tease that out. If we set a definition that a home has to be vacant for more than a year, for example, we then get into questions regarding who determines that. Is it a local authority? Is it the Revenue...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 27:In page 30, line 37, to delete “disposals occurring” and substitute “disposals occurring, or unrealised profits or gains recognised in the income statement,”. This amendment is technical in nature. On Committee Stage I introduced an amendment to the Irish real estate fund, IREF, regime to remove, from 1 January 2019, the exemption which...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Before the Finance Bill, IREFs that held property assets for more than five years were to be exempt from capital gains tax. This year's Finance Bill removes that exemption. As a result, where property assets are sold after 1 January 2019 and gains are distributed to investors, the IREF will apply a 20% withholding tax on those distributions unless the investors are exempt as is the case,...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will get clarity on the point put to me by Deputy Doherty. I am making this change because I want to ensure that we are treating these gains in the right way. The Deputy is asking me a question which I cannot answer now, but I will do so at the latest over the course of the Bill's passage through the Seanad. I do not want to answer it and unintentionally mislead the Deputy or the House....

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We do not anticipate a significant gain for the State from the change in amendment No. 27 but I still believe that the change needs to be made. Part of this was dealt with by the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, on Committee Stage and I understand that the committee went into private session to allow a number of technical questions which were raised by Deputies to be answered by the Revenue...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Pimp out our country: is that the best the Deputy has to offer? I am proud of the efforts of successive Governments to attract investment into our country. If the best that the Deputy can offer in a serious debate is to describe this as "pimping out our country" and if the only reference he can make to jobs is the phrase "anti-jobs", he is doing a grave disservice to the role of...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I will conclude briefly. I never said that any Opposition Deputy was anti-jobs. I simply said that Deputy Boyd Barrett and Deputy Murphy never mentioned them. I simply made the point that Deputy Doherty gave jobs a passing reference. That is what I said. I do not base my arguments on appeals to patriotism. I believe we should be able to openly critique and debate policy. However, we...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: He suggested we could double our revenue by doubling the rate.

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The idea that we would be able to make significant changes in the tax code, as has been suggested by Deputy Murphy and Deputy Boyd Barrett, but not create opportunities that would be used by others to affect the share of jobs and investment in our country does not reflect the kind of world that Ireland is competing in.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Rate Application (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The 9% reduced rate of VAT is reviewed annually in the context of the Budget, including the costs and economic benefits and the additional revenue that could be raised by bringing the rate back to 13.5%.  Revenue’s most recent estimate for reverting the reduced 9% VAT rate back to 13.5% is that it would bring in extra revenue of €491 million. In terms of economic...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Stamp Duty (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The rate of stamp duty on commercial property was increased from 2% to 6% by way of a Budget Day Financial Resolution in respect of all relevant conveyances executed on or after 11 October 2017. Finance Bill 2017 contains transitional measures in relation to extending the previous 2% rate for certain transactions that would have reached an advanced stage in the sale process before Budget day...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: State Aid Investigations (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Ireland has never accepted the Commission’s analysis in the Apple State aid Decision. However, we have always been clear that the Government is fully committed to ensuring that recovery of the alleged Apple State aid takes place without delay and has committed significant resources to ensuring this is achieved as quickly as possible whilst ensuring that the interests of the Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Procurement Regulations (22 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: Public Procurement is governed by EU and National rules. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers transparency and value for money outcomes.  In addition, public procurement regulations require applicants to meet certain standards when applying for public contracts.  The criterion upon which...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: We dealt with much of this matter last night. I appreciate the views of the Deputy on it but as I explained last night, I profoundly disagree with the approach he has taken. I reiterate that corporation tax policy and decisions we make on how to tax activity within our country is a legitimate part of an economic and political model for a country of our scale and size, located where we are...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I move amendment No. 35:In page 32, line 11, to delete “interest paid” and substitute “interest or other distribution payable”. Section 19 amends section 110 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which deals with the taxation of special purpose structured finance companies. The current regime was set up to create a tax neutral regime for securitisation and...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: To clarify, this refers to the shares that derive their value from the property. While colleagues may differ in their evaluation of the policy overall, the amendment deals with shares that derive their value from property that are held in section 110 companies. As for Deputy Boyd Barrett's remarks, we do not tax retrospectively. We differ on that. Regardless of what the asset or the...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: I have explained what we are doing. Any inference that I am in any way looking to reduce the value or the impact of changes made to how these organisations were taxed in the past is wrong and inaccurate. My Department and the Revenue Commissioners regularly review the tax code to see if we need to make any changes to either deter avoidance or deal with discrepancies that might lead to...

Finance Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2017)

Paschal Donohoe: The reason I have not spoken to the section itself is because we are not on Committee Stage and I am, therefore, dealing with each of the amendments before me. To deal with the issue again, as the Deputy will be aware, this year we extended the scope of this provision by also catching shares that derive their value from Irish property, which we debated on Committee Stage. The intention was...