Results 241-260 of 32,924 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: We received its submission, which we are considering. I know what proposals it has pushed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I entirely agree. The issue still revolves around how we can pay for it all in a way that is sustainable and whereby we can avoid making commitments which, in future, we find out we cannot afford. It is about how we ensure capital investment happens in a way, to go back to Deputy Brennan's question, that does not cause other issues in our economy. I agree with Deputy Timmins that capital...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I entirely agree with the Senator. In addition to the point he has made, which I agree with, I am sure he will agree with me about the dignity of giving people the opportunity to get a job, progress their career, go from job to job, earn more and feel they are having a good course through our economy, which has immeasurable benefits. From the point of view of this particular economy, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I am less clear as to what that means for energy and renewables. So much of wind farms, for example, is pre-made. It arrives into Ireland and is shipped out of our ports. As I said, technology and helping people to get a better start in their lives, earlier in their lives, are hugely important.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I meant it more in terms of employment than corporate tax.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: That is a fair point. I must break spending into two different strands. The risk could be there for capital investment. We need to ensure that our capital investment plans get the balance right between ambition and affordability. How to get that balance right is on our minds. On current spending, I see it as more of a risk but the risk is different. We could end up with rates of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: That is the risk, and that is what we are trying to prevent. The reason we are setting up all these funds, in particular the Future Ireland Fund, is that if we were hit with a downturn that would materially affect the tax we are collecting, we would have a fund available to us to help with the funding of capital investment. That is, in retrospect, at the heart of so many of our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: There are three things: having a better regulatory environment in which smaller businesses can grow; the work we do in the National Training Fund to help with the skills and knowledge development of these businesses; and how we support our organisations, such as Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland, to help those enterprises grow within our economy. I pinpoint those three as the levers we can use.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Of course.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: No, not really. The difficulty companies face in scaling up from being medium-sized businesses to becoming very large businesses is a well-documented issue across developed economies. We have that issue in Ireland, as do lots of other economies. The issue of the Stock Exchange is not just an Irish issue. We are seeing stock exchanges all over Europe now begin to see businesses that were...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Is this the growth of our domestic economy?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I see that having limited potential for our economy. The reason for that is the importance of the direct link between the US and Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Companies that we have located here would not want to use a third country to circumvent tariffs because of the economic and reputational risks for them. From our point of view, the big benefit companies have is they can just ship right to the US. Geographically, it is harder to see where they could be diverted to. I think that will have a limited effect.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Economy in the Year to Date: Minister for Finance (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: This is an idea that the Minister, Deputy Browne, raised. Like all these ideas, it is one I am certainly willing to consider, have a look at and work with him on. This is in the context of the new housing plan the Government is working on. If we were to agree to something like that, I am sure that is the place where we would agree it. At this point, the Minister has raised it as a...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Departmental Schemes (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy should note that my Department and I share concerns that the Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme or DDS is no longer fit-for-purpose and believe it should be replaced with a needs-based, grant-led approach for necessary vehicle adaptations that could serve to improve the functional mobility of the individual.  However, this is very much a matter for Government...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Data Protection (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 116, 117 and 118 together. I am advised by Revenue that the disposal of call recording records in accordance with the “Schedule of Records” and “Records Retention and Disposal Policy” published on Revenue.ie is not considered a personal data breach for the purposes of Article 4 (12) of the General Data Protection Regulation. The...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Departmental Correspondence (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: An “Exchange Traded Fund” or “ETF” is an investment fund that is traded on a regulated stock exchange. A typical ETF can be compared to a tracker fund in that it will seek to replicate a particular index. There is no separate taxation regime specifically for ETFs. ETFs, being collective investment funds, generally come within the regimes set out in the Taxes...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Interest Rates (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: Matters in relation to personal insolvency, and the processing of personal insolvency cases, are a matter for the Department of Justice. In relation to interest rates, the formulation and implementation of monetary policy is an independent matter for the European Central Bank (ECB).  The ECB increased official interest rates over the course of 2022 and 2023 as it moved to combat...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Fines Administration (28 May 2025)

Paschal Donohoe: I am advised by Revenue that the payment of court imposed fines and penalties is a matter for the Courts Service and the Department of Justice. Any consideration of an expansion of the collection mechanisms for such fines and penalties would require careful consideration and would be a matter for the Minister for Justice in the first instance. If the Deputy wishes to provide further...