Results 26,841-26,860 of 35,959 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: It could involve different people or it could be paid by a company. The stated intention of the Living City initiative was for families to come back to live in those dwellings. The amendment gets rid of the condition that existed heretofore, namely, the properties can now be renovated without the requirement of anyone living in the properties.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: The cap is coming from the EU, not the Government, and is a result of having to pass the state aid rules. The key point remains that there is no living requirement in the living city initiative. With regard to the single-storey case, we can argue whether it is worthy to extend this to single-storey buildings, built before 1915 or otherwise. Even if we were to agree to the merits of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: I am sure the Minister of State is not deliberately doing this but he has made the point twice that subsection 3 only dealt with the specific situation where the commercial part was in the basement of a two-storey property. The legislation only allows for two stories, with or without a basement. It states, "subsection (3) shall only apply if the qualifying premises are comprised in the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: First, to clarify, the second part of my amendment which the Minister of State read out, which was ruled out of order, is a typographical error. It was only to reinstate subsection (3), which it is proposed to delete. The Minister is getting rid of this section, which is the condition that applies to commercial refurbishment in relevant houses which required the rest of the house to be...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: This scheme has not been up and running, but let us pretend that it was. Where anybody wanted to avail of the commercial part of this relief, previously was there an onus on him or her to refurbish the living quarters of the premises?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: It is clear that any commercial refurbishment that was done required one also to refurbish the living quarters and to live in them. The Minister of State mentioned that such applied to Georgian houses. It also applied to relevant houses, which was classified as pre-1915 houses which were two storey also. My point is anybody who was to avail of this relief up until now had to refurbish a...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine but let us stick to the facts here.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: The scheme in two different Finance Bills required anybody who was availing of this tax relief for commercial purposes to refurbish the upper part of the house, and one had to live in it. That is why it is called the living city initiative. What is being proposed today in the Finance Bill is that one no longer must have any part of the house refurbished for living because the Minister is...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: On a commercial element required, there was a condition-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: Can the Minister of State point out where in the original Act, which is what we are amending, this applies? Subsection (3), which is what we are deleting here, is the commercial end of the two-storey houses on which one need not now carry out work on the upper floor.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: It is farcical that an amendment that seeks deletion of a line from the legislation has been ruled out of order. It is an absolute disgrace and really frustrating for me as an elected representative tasked to represent my constituency and deal with the finance portfolio. There is a need for change in this area. As I said to the Minister for Finance yesterday there is a need for reform of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister of State mentioned 30,000 housing units and stated there is enough land with planning permission for these.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: Any land we are dealing with here is already zoned for housing anyway. I am not sure if I completely subscribe to the Minister of State's belief there is no need for additional land to come onto the market. While there may be land with planning permission, the problem is it is not going onto the market. We need some of this land to flow to people willing to develop it for housing purposes....

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: The windfall tax was introduced for two reasons. The first was that individuals made huge gains as a result of the rezoning of land and it was deemed appropriate that some of those gains would be recouped by the State, while the second reason was to serve as an anti-corruption measure. I mentioned at this committee previously that one would hope that local authority members, elected by the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister of State has said that the effect of what I have suggested in terms of the windfall tax being removed for a specified period would be to shoe horn transactions into a particular period of time but that is exactly what we want. That should be the stated objective of Government. We want this land to be released for development purposes. If the period in question is two years,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: I would appreciate the Minister of State's clarification on the meaning of "consideration paid". There are amendments before the committee that clarify that it should be apportioned. There is no clarification in the legislation stipulating consideration paid would be apportioned. It is a small matter. The 20% appeared as a result of the Central Bank's consultation on loan-to-value...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: It does not require somebody to actually apply for a mortgage and it does facilitate cash buyers.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: It was supposed to be targeted at people who wish to avail of mortgages, but the new rules on mortgages do not suggest it will be tied to the idea of availing of a mortgage. A cash buyer who does not need a mortgage to purchase a home does not really need this DIRT exemption.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: This applies to first-time buyers who are to use the property being purchased or transferred to them as a place of residence. What provisions are contained in the legislation regarding the timeframe and anti-avoidance? When people are applying for planning permission for a place of residence at local authority level, section 37 agreements ensure one must live in the property for seven...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Nov 2014)

Pearse Doherty: If a person had a large portion of savings, what would be the position? I agree with the Minister of State that the circumstances are unlikely to arise but with such measures people look for loopholes. If a well-off individual has considerable savings worth €1 million and decides to buy a property with a value equivalent to those savings, the DIRT benefit he or she could accrue over...