Results 3,261-3,280 of 35,549 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 503. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when two Leaving Certificate English teacher positions will be filled in a secondary school in County Donegal (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48049/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 1114. To ask the Minister for Health the number of people on waiting lists for a dermatologist in the north west broken down into whether they have been waiting for 6-12, 12-18, 8-24 and over 24 months; how these figures compare with last years, in tabular form; if he is concerned about the fact that a consultant dermatologist has said in a letter to GPs that dermatology provision in the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Care Services (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 1285. To ask the Minister for Health if respite services can be provided for a person (details supplied) in County Donegal for one week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48464/23]

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the Minister and his officials. I look forward to our engagement and to scrutinising this Bill in the next few days.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Section 2 deals with the universal social charge, in particular the changes the Minister has introduced, including the increase in the 2% rate threshold in line with the minimum wage, the extension for the provision for medical card holders, which was coming to an end, as proposed by Sinn Féin, and the rate of 4.5% being reduced to 4%. As the Minister will be aware, the latter rate...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: If the Minister wants to look at the overall tax package, the distributional impact gets worse. Under the section which we are dealing with, which is just USC, somebody earning just below the median wage in the State would benefit by €92. As I said, somebody earning just below the median wage in this State would benefit by €92. Somebody earning twice that would benefit by...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I am sure that at the start of Committee Stage of the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023, we can agree on some of the facts that are known to us. According to the CSO, the median earning in this State is €33,516. That takes in part-time earnings. If we looked at full-time earnings, which would be unfair because many part-time workers are struggling as well, the figure would be...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: When was the last time somebody walked up to the Minister and said what happened in the budget had increased their net take-home pay by 2%? Nobody does that. The reality is they look at how much better off they are next year for tax purposes than this year. Those on €30,000 will be about €292 better off; higher income earners will be €900 better off. The median income...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: We are not dealing with the overall budget, the social welfare package or the minimum wage increase. We are dealing with the Minister’s taxation package which he is presenting to us. I have asked him to own the fact he is presenting to us that workers on higher incomes will benefit more than those on average incomes. That is what he is asking the committee to vote for today. Is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: That is what Committee Stage is all about.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I did not say anything like that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: No one is suggesting that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: No, I am not.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: No, it is not.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I thank the Deputy. I appreciate his kind words.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: As I have often stated, I do not accept the amendment being proposed by the Rural Independent Group or when it was proposed by the Fine Gael Party. Amendment No. 2 calls on the Minister, as we have to do to allow these amendments to be in order, to prepare and lay before the Dáil a report on increasing the exemption limit for the USC from €13,000 to €30,000 and the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 2: In page 8, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following: "Report on universal social charge 3.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on increasing the exemption limit with respect to the universal social charge from €13,000 to €30,000, and the distributional impact of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I understand the Minister's points about the simplicity of the scheme at the minute, bikes being stolen, Garda reports and so on. I do not want to focus on that point; I want to focus on the second amendment from Deputy Nash in respect of school and college, particularly the latter part. The school part would be challenging because every child could avail of it in that case and it would be...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: This section clarifies that there is no four-year rule in relation to Revenue being able to look back, which has always been the case or always was our understanding of the law as it applied to Revenue. Therefore, I have no issue with this clarification going into the finance Act. I ask the Minister to outline why this has now been introduced as a legislative change given that we expect...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Obviously, this is the Minister's first time taking the Finance Bill in his capacity as Minister. I would like to ask when he saw the light with regard to this proposal, because these are his comments when he was in opposition: The question is whether the Government has got it right in the intervention it is making by way of the first-time buyer's tax rebate. We do not believe it has got...