Results 2,861-2,880 of 35,549 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Is it not the case that the directive will provide for the outsourcing of debt collection and enforcement of the security, which could involve eviction proceedings by a credit servicer or a vulture fund? A number of concerns have been raised by consumer rights advocates, for example by Professor Padraic Kenna of the University of Galway. He says this directive could transform the treatment...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It has been noted that these vulture funds and debt collection servicing credit agents will operate under different legal traditions and consumer protection codes. It is clear that this directive will have a greater impact on poor households. There is every possibility that Irish households could see decisions made about their loans being made by vulture funds that are not registered in EU...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 87. To ask the Minister for Finance the date on which he will transpose the credit servicers' directive by means of a statutory instrument; his assessment of warnings that the provisions of the directive could lead to an erosion of consumer protection and citizens’ rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51434/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Banking Sector (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: An estimated 113,000 mortgage borrowers in this State have had their loans sold to vulture funds. That includes approximately 80,000 primary dwelling homes. The aim of the credit servicers directive is to encourage the development of secondary markets of non-performing loans. Will the Minister inform the House of his Department's assessment of the impact this directive will have on...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Economic Data (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Those results from the CSO are welcome in relation to some of the other measurements we have seen in recent times, in particular, the Commission's forecasting, which I am addressing in this question. We all know the growth rate in the domestic economy, which was always going to ease from its post-pandemic surge, is expected to slow further as we have capacity constraints that have become a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Economic Data (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is important that none of us become complacent. We understand the likely fall-off in GDP and GDP projections is in large part due to the reduction in pharmaceutical exports since the pandemic. Obviously, we had a surge and a bonanza during the pandemic as regards that sector and it played into our receipts. That was obviously going to drop off and return to a more normal level. We have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Economic Data (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 121. To ask the Minister for Finance his assessment of the European Commission’s forecast of a 0.9 percentage point fall in GDP for 2023; the drivers of this revision; and his views on the outlook for the Irish economy and the labour market in the context of this downward revision. [51435/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Economic Data (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: My question concerns the recent economic forecast from the Commission updating its projections on the Irish economy, in which it predicts a 0.9% fall in GDP this year. Notwithstanding the fact we know GDP has become essentially decoupled from the performance of the domestic economy as an accurate measure, will the Minister outline his assessment of the Commission’s latest projections,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 81. To ask the Minister for Finance for his and his Department's analysis of the estimated deadweight loss associated with the rented residential relief; its implications for social equity within the taxation system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51792/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: As we have discussed previously, in the recent budget the Minister introduced a tax break for landlords of €600 next year, going up to €1,000. It was an unprecedented step in our tax code and raises fundamental concerns around equity and fairness. Another key issue is the purpose of this tax break, who will benefit and why it is necessary. Can the Minister inform the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is difficult to see this tax break as anything other than an expensive sop to landlords. That is why Professor Barra Roantree, formerly of the ESRI, described this tax break as "Maybe the stupidest tax relief of recent times", with the vast majority going to landlords who never even thought of leaving the market. The Minister says there is a risk of deadweight. Is he telling me that he...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tax Code (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister's officials, experts and professors on the outside are telling him this is not going to work but he is going ahead with it because that is what his party does in terms of the interests of landlords. There is a perverse incentive in our tax code, which I addressed at the finance committee, that Fine Gael introduced many years ago and that encourages landlords to sell. All the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Treasury Management Agency (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 79. To ask the Minister for Finance the total value and number of investments made by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund in companies or enterprises that operate in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and, respectively, companies or enterprises that have been included on the UN database of companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, which was...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Treasury Management Agency (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Over the past month and more we have been witness to the cruel and vicious bombardment of the Palestinian people in Gaza together with increased attacks, intimidation and brutality in the West Bank. These events have underlined the need for the State to do everything in its means and use everything at its disposal to hold the Israeli regime to account on behalf of the Palestinian people. We...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Treasury Management Agency (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: In the past number of weeks, we have seen this play out in front of our eyes on our television screens and on social media. We have witnessed actions by an Israeli regime that break all moral and, indeed, legal codes. We have a moral obligation to act, and there are steps that can be taken. In March, before the humanitarian crisis unfolded, Sinn Féin brought legislation before the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Treasury Management Agency (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The lack of urgency on this by the Government is startling. We brought forward the legislation and it decided to stall it for nine months. That nine months is up in January and there is still no plan from the Government. In the meantime, bombs have rained down on the people of Gaza. We have seen the destruction of hospitals and civilian infrastructure, and the destruction and targeting of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Supplementary)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I thank the Minister. It has been a busy engagement over the past two weeks, given all the different opportunities. We are dealing with the Supplementary Estimates for the Minister's Department and Revenue. I will come to Revenue in a moment. I cannot imagine this will take much time. There are far more important and wider issues than what is at stake here in respect of the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Supplementary)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The consultant was paid in the region of €250,000, probably a little less, perhaps €230,000.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Supplementary)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is somewhere in the ballpark of €230,000 per year. Is that the consultant's salary for just doing the work on the board of appeals? I presume this consultant is employed by the National Rehabilitation Hospital, as the Minister said, and, therefore, he or she was doing important work for the NRH and we were covering his or her entire wage. Is that the position?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Supplementary)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Supplementary) (23 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The day job.