Results 20,701-20,720 of 32,864 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I can answer the question and we can follow it with a note. It has improved slightly because EUROSTAT has issued guidance that allows us to make decisions on a forward-looking basis. As a result, we have a better idea of where policy on the matter stands. All that being said, I continue to be careful regarding the use of off-balance-sheet mechanisms. Even though some may not be on our...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I agree with the first part of what the Deputy said. He summarised my own thinking on the matter, which is that we would look at putting together a fund which would have a countercyclical effect on the economy. I will make one point. Let us say we were to set up the fund as I am describing and stop contributions in 2021, for the sake of argument. We would end up with a fund of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: My preference at this point would be to keep it out of the rainy day fund and that is what I will work through with the committee in the coming months. When this idea was originally conceived, regardless of who the parent of it was, it was about having a rainy day fund to deal with global shocks and how an open economy can respond to big events beyond its control. One of the ideas I have...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: What I have in mind now is to get the committee's paper in February. We will have the summer economic statement, SES, in April or May and within the period of nailing down what the SES will be and presenting it to the Dáil, I hope we will be in a position after that to begin to present the heads of the Bill to the committee for pre-legislative scrutiny. We are talking about something...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I will have to write back to the committee and to the Deputy on the specific health projects. I am not in a position to answer that question now. On his point about public private partnerships, they do have a valuable role to play in the economy and there are many other projects that have been delivered well by PPPs. The benefit they have for the State is that we do not make any payments...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The current situation is that the National Development Finance Agency, which is an agency associated with my Department, works with all Departments on PPPs. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is increasingly playing a bigger role in terms of policy on PPPs and I anticipate that will remain the case in the future.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There are two parts to the question. First, we have a set of PPPs that are either now complete or under way and I am not in a position to publish details on them because of the way they are conceived but we always look at the start of a project to see whether the figures stack up and then we evaluate at the end of a project whether it was the appropriate way to do it. That has informed the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: There is a role for the Comptroller and Auditor General in everything. That office looks back at all the work we do. My recollection is that it has focused on the role of PPPs in certain Departments, in particular the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. I am notified of any report from the Comptroller and Auditor General and my Department then has to respond back to it...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Does the Chairman think he will be able to establish a consensus?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: A majority view, perhaps.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Proposal to Establish a Rainy Day Fund: Minister for Finance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Chairman.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Vehicle Registration (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Section 130 of the Finance Act 1992 as amended by section 53 of the Finance Act 2017 provides that from 31 July 2018 N1 vehicles with 4 or more seats will be liable to VRT at the Category A rate except where the vehicle has a BE bodywork code. The BE bodywork code is assigned at type approval stage to N1 vehicles where the vehicle does not exceed 3,500 kilograms, and where the seating...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Corporate Tax Compliance (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 to 138, inclusive, together. In relation to question number 4705 and question Number 4709, I am informed by Revenue that between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2017 a total of 3,893 companies had notified Revenue that they were qualifying companies for the purposes of section 110 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. 762 of these company's corporation tax...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Credit Union Lending (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I can advise the Deputy that Section 35 of the Credit Union Act 1997 as amended by the Central Bank Reform Act 2010 provided for the making of loans by a credit union and provided the Central Bank with certain regulation making powers. The legislation set out limits on lending over 5 years and over 10 years. Following commencement of the Credit Union and Co-operation with Overseas Regulators...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Excise Duties Reliefs (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Revenue is the licensing authority for most excise licences in the State however it does not have responsibility for handling applications for Special Exemption Orders.  These are the responsibility of the Courts Service, as is the collection of the appropriate excise duty.  On application for a Special Exemption Licence a fee is paid to the Courts Service by the publican.  The...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Ministerial Advisers Data (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to inform the Deputy that there are currently two Special Advisers employed in the Department of Finance, who are on the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's payroll. Ms Deborah Sweeney was appointed as Special Adviser to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform with effect from 6 May 2016. Ms Sweeney was re-appointed as Special Adviser to the Minister...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Pensions Legislation (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: Approved Retirement Funds (ARFs) are post-retirement investment vehicles through which individuals can invest the proceeds of their pension fund in retirement and draw cash as required. ARFs were introduced by Finance Act 1999 to provide control, flexibility and choice to holders of personal pensions and to proprietary director members of occupational pension schemes in relation to the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Staff Retirements (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 144 together. I refer the Deputies to my response to PQ No 4003 on 30 January 2018.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Civil Service Staff Data (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: The Civil Service Mobility scheme which comes under the remit of my department, and is administered through HR Shared Service, National Shared Service Office, offers an opportunity for staff members to apply for mobility through an open, fair, and transparent system. It is one of a number of arrangements to be put in place to fulfil the requirements of Action 15 of the Civil Service Renewal...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Ministerial Advisers Data (31 Jan 2018)

Paschal Donohoe: I wish to inform the Deputy that there are currently two Special Advisers employed in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Ms Deborah Sweeney was appointed as Special Adviser to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform with effect from on 06 May 2016. Ms Deborah Sweeney was re-appointed as Special Adviser to the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform with...