Results 221-240 of 4,803 for speaker:Neale Richmond

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I thank the Senators for the recommendation. There is already work under way across the Government with regard to short-term rental. The proposed short-term letting and tourism Bill that is being developed by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will provide the statutory basis for the establishment of a register for short-term lets in Ireland and for the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I will speak on this extremely important and well-meaning recommendation because it is important to provide clarification. To lay out for the purposes of the House, the purpose of the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal is to provide a review mechanism for those who have been assessed as not meeting one of the six disabled driver and disabled passenger scheme eligibility criteria by a...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I do not want to add too much on the general research and development tax credit pieces as I would have spoken about that on Second Stage of the Bill and on my owned lived experience as a Minister of State in the Department of enterprise. I am sure Senator Higgins will join the whole House in welcoming the €80 million in additional funding for Ireland's higher level research sector...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: This is not just a matter of ideological difference, it is about a practical difference. First and foremost, we should recognise that there are taxes on wealth already in our economy, and indeed Sinn Féin and its sister party, People Before Profit, regularly vote against the local property tax at local authority level. That is important, for the record, if we are going to be making...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: A new enhanced credit for small- to medium-sized feature film productions is being introduced. The enhanced credit, which will form part of the long-standing section 481 film tax credit, will provide an additional 8% credit for film productions with a maximum qualifying expenditure of €20 million. This will provide for a total support of 40% for in-scope productions. I have been...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I appreciate the sentiment, and I mean this in all seriousness, of the recommendation. I have no major opposition to it but this is an issue of what is practical. There is no mechanism under which Ireland may request another jurisdiction to be added to the EU list. The listing process is an objective process based on agreed tax standards applied consistently to all jurisdictions within the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I am not going to engage on every point.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: As Senator Gavan is aware, the Gambling Regulation Act is under the remit of the Minister for Justice. Therefore, I am not in a position to discuss the legislation in a Finance Bill context. However, any potential change to betting duties is kept under review as part of the tax strategy group and budgetary cycle. This is in line with how the Department of Finance develops and monitors tax...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: A number of factors affect the final retail price of fuels, including energy market dynamics, wholesale pricing, individual retail pricing policy, transport costs, exchange rate fluctuations and taxation. It is important to note that despite the restoration of excise rates which occurred in April and August this year, as well as the carbon tax increase on 9 October, national average retail...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: There are two substantive recommendations here. This was raised in detail on Second Stage, particularly by Senator Higgins. I will try to be brief because the clock is against us, but both recommendations merit debate. Senators will be aware that the Government is genuinely committed to tackling climate change and decarbonising the economy by 2050 and is aware of the challenge that these...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I will ask the Minister for energy to follow up on that directly.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: When we discuss comparisons between 2024 and 2021, it is important that we acknowledge what happened in that period and what caused major increases in energy prices. We have subsequently seen those increases decline. It is easy to choose a period before Russia invaded Ukraine and we saw massive inflation in the has sector, and then talk about what has happened since when those prices came...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I will refer to the Second Stage debate in this regard.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I will respond briefly. The banking levy was retained and the Senators are seeking a report on the rate of the levy relative to the net interest income and operating profit for all in-scope institutions since the levy was introduced. It is, therefore, important to point out that it would not be possible to produce a report as requested within that timeline. Credit institutions licensed by...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I am worried because that is the second time that Senator Gavan has agreed with senator McDowell in this session.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: If it happens a third time, I do not know what will happen. Perhaps Beetlejuice will appear. This Bill introduces a new section 89A to the Capital Acquisitions Tax Consolidation Act 2003 to provide for a revised form of relief from capital acquisitions tax for gifts and inheritances of agricultural property. The primary policy rationale for the relief is, of course, to promote the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: I think it is incumbent to state that quite a number of us in the Chamber are active members of trade unions and would personally benefit from that financially, and I am one of those. Senator Gavan and I have debated the benefits of trade union membership many times previously. I do not think I was ever found wanting on that, which is why I was quite taken by some of these comments. I...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: We are in a political Chamber but not necessarily in a party-political Chamber.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: That is why I am saying we should remove the emotion in the politics concerning what was a very serious suggestion by Senators Gavan and Warfield. What was referred to was done before. The rationale outlined very clearly by Senator Higgins has merit in the context of the overall rationale for what is being aimed at, but what she desires is not going to be achieved by this measure. That is...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (6 Nov 2024)

Neale Richmond: It is important to come back in on this. There will be wider debates on the directive, and the House had one this morning. Such a debate is important but we are here to speak about the actualities of the Finance Bill and the costs as opposed to wider signals and motives. We are bringing into a debate an emotive aspect that is out of place here. We have had the discussion-----