Results 2,221-2,240 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: We raise in the region of that figure from non-indexation of the system. That is the manner in which we apply the net spending rule.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and I are working to implement the summer economic statement parameters. We brought it to Government. We endorsed it and we got a mandate to proceed to develop a budget consistent with the summer economic statement. That is what we intend to do and that work is now well under way

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: The overall package is €6.4 billion. The Deputy is referring to one component of that. In overall terms, the package is €6.4 billion. The split is as we set out in the summer economic statement and the Government has not made any decision to change that figure. It is our intention to proceed on the basis of the summer economic statement.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: I want to reaffirm the point the Minister made. The Deputy quotes the article correctly but the Central Bank, as a body offering policy advice to Government, is not advising the Government to spend more money. If he is to be consistent and if he supports what the Central Bank advocates in that article, the Deputy presumably supports the overall position on fiscal policy the bank has taken...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: There is no getting away from the fact the inflation we have experienced in the past year and a half or so has really hurt people. We have not seen inflation at these levels for about 40 years. It has had a significant impact. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will point out in a moment the analysis his Department has done on the combined impact on lower income households of all the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: With your indulgence, Chair, I will just add a word in response to the earlier exchange and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will come in on the funding issues for mental health. The Deputy is correct, overall, on the issue of corporate profitability. This is something the IMF has examined and published. That is why, in the case of energy for example, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. To take the two areas of additional revenue and to start with the one he raised specifically, namely, the cap on market revenues, as he knows, the legislation giving effect to that is currently before the Oireachtas. As the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, alluded to in his reply to Deputy Nash, the proceeds from that will be collected by the Commission for Regulation of...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: To reduce tariffs, yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: On your bill.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: That is my understanding.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: Our focus is on budget 2024. That will be the main fiscal event of the year and will lay out our plans for all of next year. We have indicated that we will again bring forward a package of temporary one-off measures. I note the Deputy's comments in relation to those one-off measures. I think there has been an attempt to almost devalue the value of those one-off measures. They were real...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: Many people were able to use those payments over a period of time. Of course it is different in nature to a weekly payment. We acknowledge that but we know that they were welcomed by many of those who received them. We have no plans to do anything in the spring of 2024. We are preparing the budget now for next year. There will be some additional measures that we will lay out on budget...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: First of all, I strongly defend the parameters of the budget. We have had a difficult balance to strike and I think we have stuck the right balance. People will form their own views of that in just under two weeks' time when they see the budget. We want to provide help to people where we think it is warranted. We need to spend enough money to do that. At the same time we do not want to...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: We have a programme for Government commitment on income tax that provides for the indexation of bands and credits. There are different options and combinations that are possible as part of that. As the overall envelope is just over €1.1 billion on the tax side, I will bring forward a fair and balanced tax package which will provide benefits for all income earners. Of course, I will...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: I am very conscious of the work of the commission and the report is on my desk. Of course I am dipping in and out of it and looking at the various recommendations. I will not give any indication on any specific measure but if the Deputy looks at the broad point it makes, it makes the point that into the future there will be a need for additional taxation to fund the running of the State....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: Yes, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and I are working actively on that at the moment. We see it as a very important part of the overall picture and an opportunity to help future-proof the future of the country's finances. We acknowledge the need to spend more in capital and we will do that but we have to take the opportunity that is afforded to us now from receipts that are unreliable. They...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: As the Deputy is aware, we published a scoping paper earlier this year. The Central Bank kindly hosted an event that various contributors who have expert knowledge in this area attended and spoke at, and gave evidence of the international experience. We have been looking at different models around the world to see what we can learn from that to help influence and shape our own plans in...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: Absolutely. The Deputy is spot-on. We have to ensure that we invest through the cycle in the future, and that we get away from the peaks and troughs, feast or famine approach. The Deputy is right. People who are deciding on careers and on where they want to base themselves into the future need to have an assurance that there will be a sustained level of public capital investment over the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. We are collecting revenue from the banks every year in the form of the bank levy. The bank levy is due to end in law at the end of this year but I have made it known publicly that it will be continued into 2024. I am taking the opportunity of the budgetary context to examine the appropriate scope of the levy and its amount. I will lay out on budget day what the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McGrath: This is a tax that is due to come into effect on 1 January. The legislation is in place and is being given effect to. Part of that involves many landowners engaging with their local authority and subsequently by appeal to An Bord Pleanála, if they believe they should be outside the scope of the tax or if they are seeking to have their land dezoned. In the lead-up to the budget, and...