Results 3,701-3,720 of 35,540 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (21 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 210. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of providing a €100 lump-sum payment for each social welfare and social assistance scheme on 1 November 2023, 1 October 2023 and 1 March 2024 respectively, disaggregated by social welfare payment type, in tabular form. [40898/23]

Mortgage Interest Relief: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I thank all of the speakers who spoke on this motion today. Many of them mentioned that this is the third time we have had a motion of this nature before the House. Sinn Féin will continue to campaign and to put forward proposals that will provide relief for hard-pressed workers and families in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. We are very conscious that there is a portion of...

Mortgage Interest Relief: Motion (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that: — the cost-of-living crisis is exacting enormous pressure on household finances; and — mortgage costs are among households’ largest monthly expense, with the unprecedented and sustained rise in interest rates resulting in significant financial pressure for households; notes that: — on 20th September the...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I am keeping an eye on the Chamber as our Private Members' Business debate is coming up. IFAC speaks about the national spending rule. It is the only organisation that calls it the national spending rule. IFAC wants us to legislate for the rule but there is no legislation underpinning the rule and it is not a national rule. It is a Government rule that appeared in the summer economic...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I understand IFAC's logic because its members have it clear and asked for the rule to be legislated. However, as a point of fact we do not have a national expenditure rule. There is no legislation underpinning it; the Government describes it as the Government's rule. It is not a national rule. It is not like the fiscal rules that had an underpinning and despite IFAC wishing it did, it...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: There is no agreement. There is no agreement of the Oireachtas. This rule-----

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Which means it is not national.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is not national. The Oireachtas has never agreed to this rule. This is a majority of Deputies who make up the coalition agreeing to it in their parties. It is important. It is more than semantics, because as I said IFAC has a crucial role in educating and guiding people on complex issues and there is no national rule. Unfortunately, I will have to go the Chamber because time is...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. I can extrapolate from that that in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis where we expect inflation to decrease by 2025 across the EU at 2.1%, and less here next year, that one-off measures to provide support with the cost of living could be dealt with as non-core expenditure because they are genuinely only there to deal with the inflationary pressures on families.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Yes.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I understand and I agree on that. I am sorry I need to cut this short, but I thank the council members for coming in and for their answers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Central Bank (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Cuirim fáilte roimh na finnéithe. I will start by asking a couple of questions on mica. I met with the Central Bank team privately on these issues from a consumer protection point of view. I know the bank has also met with the focus group, which we have had before the committee. There are serious issues for householders in Mayo, Donegal and elsewhere who have to rebuild their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Central Bank (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I thank Ms Rowland. We will continue this engagement because this is obviously going to take a while to work through. We will wait to see what the BPFI has to say about this later on in the week. The Governor made the point that the maintenance of the European Central Bank, ECB, rate for a sufficiently long duration will make a substantial contribution towards a timely return of inflation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Central Bank (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Obviously, this is important for people making really important decisions. People have to make decisions based on their best assessment. I agree with the Governor's comment that people should not be banking on interest rates increasing in March just because the economists are telling-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Central Bank (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Decreasing, yes. People should not bank on that just because economists have told them it would happen. However, there are people out there who are now thinking about what to do with their tracker rate. They are wondering whether to move to a fixed rate or whether the economists are right in what they have suggested, which is a decrease in March. They were thinking April before last month...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Central Bank (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I want to move on to a number of other questions but there are some who will say that the ECB was too slow to act and that it risks holding for too long. We know that high interest rates can have a serious impact with regard to recessions, employment, pressures on households and all of the rest. Perhaps, in his commentary, the Governor might answer that question or say what he thinks about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Central Bank (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Mr. Madouros says that the Central Bank is "looking at" this matter closely. The consumer is also looking at it and is seeing interest rates increase. The interest rates on all mortgage lending, not just new mortgage lending, are still 50% higher than the European average whereas deposit interest rates are lower than the European average and Irish banks are making bonanza profits because...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget Engagement (Resumed): Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Nevin Economic Research Institute (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The same logic, however, could apply to the Covid expenditure and so on. It is a different shift from IFAC and I can understand why the council is trying to shift in that direction. The last thing I will say is on windfall capital expenditure. One can argue about why we would call it that but it is actually funded by windfall receipts and that is the reality. Does the council not accept...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues: Central Bank (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I am sorry for cutting across Mr. Madouros. I am not questioning the ECB’s decision to increase rates. It is independent and I would not dare question it in that respect. However, I am speaking about the consequences. By increasing the rate to this level, Irish financial institutions have made €3.3 billion in profits because they have so much on deposit, because of the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (20 Sep 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 125. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the current waiting times for driving tests in County Donegal; the number of people on each waiting list, per centre, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40301/23]