Results 29,181-29,200 of 35,924 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: What will be the 2014 figure?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Is that a reduction?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: The tax relief will cost approximately €373 million. Has the Department run the figures on this section and the potential liability to the State from the tax relief? What is the maximum liability under the current number of policy holders in the State?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: To avail of this the premium has to be €1,000 for an adult, €500 for a child. As the insurance sector decides to increase the cost of premiums what is the extent of the vulnerability? I am not asking about where we are now based on the cost of premiums but, as the Minister rightly said, we do not decide how much tax we pay as a State, the insurance companies do because they...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: That is not the question. Maybe I am not articulating this properly. Certain adults are paying premiums of €800 and €200 for children but they are eligible for relief up to €500 under this section. What is the State’s exposure if the insurance companies were to increase premiums? I know that will not happen overnight but the Minister said that premiums have...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister have data on the break-down of the potential exposure?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister talks about the unfairness and I agree that one way or another the majority of citizens fund private health insurance but the Minister recognises the importance of the insurance sector. It is likely that premiums will continue to increase. Therefore even with this reduction as the premium increases the tax liability on the State increases too. Does the Minister envisage...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: As there is a vote in the Dáil, there is no point in calling a vote.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Both Deputies Michael McGrath and Boyd Barrett have articulated why this should not go ahead and I am very supportive of their views. This is a wrong tax measure. It is a tax on single fathers. It is mean spirited, in my view. There are other options available to the Minister. It is estimated that 15,400 single fathers are availing of the tax credit. The design of the original tax...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Would that be the only circumstance where somebody would be receiving crediting contributions and no payment?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: That is appreciated. It is more a question for the Department of Social Protection.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: For the purpose of clarity, will those on the back-to-work enterprise allowance be eligible for payment under this section?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: They do not have to lose one to avail of the other. That is good. Amendment No. 37 gets rid of crediting contributions. I ask the Minister to elaborate on why he made this change. Is it not the case that self-employed individuals who may not be in receipt of payments but were availing of crediting contributions will no longer be eligible under the section?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: The original legislation defines unemployment payments as any payment, including crediting contributions, to a qualifying individual under the Social Welfare Acts. That wording is being amended so that unemployment benefit means a payment of jobseeker's benefit or jobseeker's allowance under the Social Welfare Acts. The amendment gets rid of crediting contributions. Would there not be a...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: My amendment concerns the motivation of the contractor to supply the information. What happens if a contractor is tax compliant but did not submit the information within the timeframe? What if the contractor does not provide the information to the Revenue? I worked in the construction industry for several years. Getting people to complete a snagging list is quite difficult. The claim,...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: When the €5,000 is paid, it triggers the claim. Accordingly, in the year of assessment, the homeowner can make the claim. The requirement is that the homeowner must prove he or she has made payments to a qualifying contractor. However, they only have to prove they made the payments in the year of assessment. The officials need to re-examine this section as this could cause some...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: Due to the amendment that will allow additional contractors, there will be more than one unique reference number. Is this provided for under the legislation?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 19: In page 12, line 30, to delete "7 working" and substitute "10 working".This concerns the time available for a contractor to submit details. When we speak about the section, I will come back to the issue of the claim because there is still a problem with subsection (3)(a). We could argue about whether it should be seven working days or ten working days, but a period...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I appreciate the Minister accepting the amendment. It rounds it off to two weeks, which is better. I have tabled another amendment to deal with the rest of the section to which we will come.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Finance: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (26 Nov 2013)

Pearse Doherty: I can give the Chairman a list of finance legislation to which amendments were not accepted in principle or in practice by the Minister, as there is very little.