Results 21,141-21,160 of 35,889 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I want to pick up on an issue we touched on a number of times when the council appeared before the committee on previous occasions, namely, the difference between it and the Department of Finance. Mr. Tutty answered some of the questions. I want to go deeper into the figures he provided. He mentioned that €4.1 billion is what the council believes would need to be factored into the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I asked previously for that information to be provided to the committee. The council has made these points in the media and elsewhere. It would be helpful to members of this committee to have a breakdown of the components. We will hear from the Government that it is a Government decision to increase public sector wages or pension payments for senior citizens but some elements are...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I thank Professor McHale; that will be very helpful. I understand that there has to be a point in time when the council knows the data is robust. We are in a bit of a mess. The council has been helpful in developing a new way of measuring our debt to GDP ratio but it does not mean anything apart from it being the way the council has now decided to calculate the ratio. It has no...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I hear that, and it is welcome the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has come up with a new measurement for debt to GDP. It tells politicians and others to stop fooling themselves if they believe debt is decreasing to sustainable levels and that they should not swallow their own propaganda and state the country is doing well, because debt did not fall but increased in recent times. However,...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: That is very helpful. Professor McHale is showing his teeth less as time goes on. I am not sure whether it is about being longer in the position. I will come to this in a minute. The report, which is almost 30 pages long, has no reference bar a footnote to the improvement in the structural balance. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council got into hot water regarding a "Morning Ireland"...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Before the revision of our GDP took place, the Department estimated in its spring statement that we would not achieve the structural improvement of 0.6% required. It suggested an improvement of 0.4%. In Professor McHale's view, given the revision of our GDP figures, is this likely to make the situation worse? My understanding is-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: My understanding is that what is now being sought is Commission approval to suggest this was a once-off, which would allow it to ignore the rule this year. Given that it is a pillar of the fiscal rules, which is the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council's primary job, I am surprised there is no reference to it in the report.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I will make two final points. Professor McHale said that the budgetary package is still prudent at the limits, despite the fact that in the period since he last spoke about this here, the Government decided to spend another €0.5 billion. I am not criticising it for doing that. It got lucky in terms of an AIB transaction that it tried to fight the Commission on and lost, and it was...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: The point is that all of that €1.5 billion, on which Professor McHale came out on radio the week after and stated that it was beyond what he believed was appropriate, has gone into the expenditure base for this year, along with the other €500 million, and he still believes that is prudent policy. Either the view was incorrect at that time or he should be arguing that we should...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: My last question is on this budget. The language Professor McHale used in his report was interesting in terms of not relying on corporation tax, which may be volatile, and the fact that 41% of corporation tax is paid by ten companies, a statistic I have raised time and again. He also makes the point that it should not be used in the expenditure that is not easily reversed. I presume that...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: What is the council saying then? This is the problem with some of these documents. I can read into this that the council is saying it is not prudent to abolish the universal social charge, USC, or start the process because it has made the point about surplus corporation taxes in the hands of a small number of corporations. Someone else or other parties who want to abolish or partially...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Statement: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (13 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I agree.

Government Appeal of European Commission Decision on State Aid to Apple: Motion (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: We know that Apple Operations Europe, AOE, and Apple Sales International, ASI, were what we call stateless companies with no tax residency in Ireland or anywhere else in the world. I asked this question in 2013. Could we now have clarity on whether the Minister or his officials are aware that over the past two decades any other company was incorporated here in Ireland with the same status...

Government Appeal of European Commission Decision on State Aid to Apple: Motion (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Yes. They relate to interest and whether the Revenue Commissioners informed the Minister or his predecessors as to whether stateless companies were operating in the State. The last question was when the Minister would publish the Comptroller and Auditor General's report into Project Eagle. It has been sitting on his desk for a considerable time.

Government Appeal of European Commission Decision on State Aid to Apple: Motion (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: You want to send the Commission home for giving us money.

Government Appeal of European Commission Decision on State Aid to Apple: Motion (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Rachaidh mise i dtús báire. Tógfaidh mé 20 nóiméad.

Government Appeal of European Commission Decision on State Aid to Apple: Motion (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: Molaim an leasú atá curtha síos ag Sinn Féin. I move amendment No. 1:To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann:" and substitute the following:"notes the European Commission decision of 30 August 2016 requiring the State to collect €13 billion plus interest from Apple because it benefited from unlawful state aid; firmly rejects the Government decision to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Minister of State (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I apologise for being delayed, which was because of unfortunate scheduling of the budgetary oversight and finance committees. I hope that can be resolved as time goes on. Can we put questions directly to the Minister of State or is it just statements?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Minister of State (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: That format does not allow us to tease out questions and answers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Minister of State (7 Sep 2016)

Pearse Doherty: I will. Who is on the four sub-committees? The Minister of State said that he wanted to make sure they stuck to deadlines. What deadlines has he set? The Minister has not spoken about the business model of the insurance companies despite the fact that the motion was agreed by all parties in the Dáil. An amendment of mine discussed the fact that the business model was one of the...