Results 15,061-15,080 of 32,961 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Credit Union Regulation (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I struggle to see how meeting all of the requirements that I was called on to meet can justify being called lacklustre. The Central Bank and I were asked to put in place a framework under which credit unions and the credit union movement could then decide whether they wanted to be involved in funding social housing and that is what we have done. The work began in June 2016 when a review was...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Income Inequality (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department routinely assesses the impact of budgetary measures on inequality. As part of this distributional analysis, the effect of tax and welfare changes by income band is examined. This is undertaken using the Economic and Social Research Institute's, ESRI’s, SWITCH micro-simulation model. In the context of budget 2019, this analysis found that the combined tax and welfare...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Income Inequality (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Let us look at the facts. Ireland has the second most progressive tax system in the OECD. The most recent survey on income and living standards conducted by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, found that deprivation in Ireland reduced from 25.5% to 21%. A significant change in levels of inequality and income inequality, in particular, in our country has happened and that is a journey that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Income Inequality (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: This is a budget that was driven by my determination and the determination of the Government to make a difference to the lives of citizens, particularly those who need and deserve support in times of difficulty. Let us look at the figures on this. Let us challenge each of the points that the Deputy has put forward and examine what the figures are. Next year, €1.25 billion will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As I said to Deputy Paul Murphy on the question of funding, next year we will be spending more money to deliver new homes than on housing assistance payments to support people. My Department has published a paper, to which Deputy Boyd Barrett referred, looking at how money can be better used in this area. While new homes are being built and we are trying to get housing output back up to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: It is just plain wrong to say current expenditure going into housing assistance and RAS payments is getting nothing back. The payments are getting bigger year on year but they are used to provide accommodation and if we did not have those payments we would be faced with even higher levels of difficulty than we currently face, and which we want to reduce. We would be facing questions on what...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I am as aware as the Deputy of the grim reality for those who find themselves in precarious rental accommodation, not to mention the reality for homeless people or those facing the risk of homelessness. The plans for next year include meeting the housing needs of over 27,000 families, of which 10,000 will be met through local authority programmes to build new homes, either through direct...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I do not need to be reminded of my role in respect of housing. I work as closely as possible with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to look at how to make new resources available and to ensure the appropriate policies are in place. Deputies will recall that amendments to the taxation of section 110 companies were made in the Finance Act 2016 specifically to address the issue of returns...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will deal with each of the points the Deputy raises with me. To respond to the first point, the most recent information available to me - and I have checked this on the back of concerns he and other Deputies have raised - is that real estate firms in 2017 were net purchasers of 1% of transacted housing stock. They are the figures. That is the effect they are having on housing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Tax Code (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course, much of what happened across that period, 2013, 2014 and 2015, happened because our country was at such a level of exceptional economic difficulty and because we did not have investors or investment funds in Ireland that were capable of making those kinds of acquisitions themselves. I have looked at the figures for the most recent period. They are as I have just shared with the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic Competitiveness (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 17 and 108 together. As I outlined in budget 2019, the economy at a macro level is in good shape at present, with a much faster than expected recovery from the crisis. The recovery in part reflects improvements in Ireland's competitiveness in recent years, as measured by the Central Bank's real harmonised competitiveness indicator. Our...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic Competitiveness (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I always take the advice of Deputy Durkan seriously on matters like this. The point he makes highlights the balance that the Government must strike. On one hand there is a level of housing need that must be met. Deputy Boyd Barrett focused on it earlier, and Deputies Burton and Durkan did so in the last set of questions to me. We must build more homes to meet the existing housing need....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Economic Competitiveness (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will first deal with Deputy Durkan's question. I accept that the lack of affordable housing in our economy and our society not only has a very material effect on the living standards and aspirations of our citizens but it also affects our economy, the wages therein and its competitiveness. I accept the Deputy's point but this is the reason we have such a level of resources going into...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector Reform (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: As the Deputy is aware, my Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development published a report on local public banking at the beginning of July. The report concluded there was not a compelling case for the State to use Exchequer funding, which I remind the Deputy was approximately €150 million, to establish a new local public banking system. 12 o’clock...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Motor Insurance Costs (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 43 together. The Cost of Insurance Working Group’s Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance was published in January 2017 and makes 33 recommendations with 71 associated actions to be carried out in agreed timeframes, set out in an Action Plan. In line with the commitment to publish quarterly update reports on the implementation of the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Strategy Group (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I have always been clear that the amalgamation of USC and PRSI is a medium term plan and, as a result, the matter is being progressed on a separate track from the Budget and Finance Bill process. The Working Group have now completed their work, in line with their terms of reference. Their Report was submitted to me in recent weeks and I am now considering the contents. The Report addresses a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Central Bank of Ireland Reports (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Central Bank Section 6A Report on the culture and behaviour of the main retail banks was drafted by the Central Bank in response to my request in November 2017, on foot of the serious cultural failings in banks brought to light in the Tracker Mortgage Examination. My Department’s analysis of the report found that it is a detailed, qualitative and considered analysis of...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Brexit Issues (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: My Department’s budget forecasts assume, as a central scenario, that the UK will make an ‘orderly’ exit from the EU. This involves a transition period being agreed until the end of 2020, and a free trade agreement being agreed thereafter. However, I am conscious that the nature of the UK’s exit remains uncertain, and that the risks of a harder Brexit have...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs Costs (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I announced in the Budget that the amount of interest that may be deducted by landlords in respect of loans used to purchase, improve or repair a residential property will be restored to 100% from 1 January 2019 at an estimated cost of €10 million in the first year and €18 million in a full year. It is not a new initiative but rather an acceleration of the rate of the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Banking Sector Remuneration (25 Oct 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Deputies will be aware that Government policy on banking remuneration has remained unchanged since the financial crisis. Extensive restrictions are in place and from the outset let us be clear these are not simply confined to a handful of senior bankers whose pay is restricted by the €500,000 pay cap (excluding a standard pension contribution). These affect c.23,000 workers across the...