Results 3,981-4,000 of 35,549 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Interest Rates (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: That is fine for the Minister for Finance to say because there are people in this House who may be able to withstand the types of shocks we have seen. However, we on the finance committee had two people before us yesterday. Both had their mortgages sold on from Permanent TSB to the vulture funds, which my legislation would have stopped, but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael frustrated that....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Interest Rates (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: One of the witnesses who came before the finance committee made it very clear that she does not want to fall into arrears. Actually, both witnesses have not missed a payment, have never been in arrears and are meeting all their payments. The reality, however, is that when interest rates increase to the level they have increased to as a result of those loans being sold to the vulture funds,...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Cross-Border Co-operation (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 57. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the Government will commit to funding 50% of the A5 upgrade project, as agreed in the St. Andrews Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30076/23]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 71. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if an update can be provided regarding the status of the TEN-T project, which will fund three sections of road in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30077/23]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Reliefs (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 115. To ask the Minister for Finance the current status of the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme; when the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal will recommence hearings; the number of appeals and request for appeal hearings that have been lodged since November 2021; and his response to the recent annual report of the Ombudsman with respect to same. [30180/23]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Interest Rates (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 142. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will detail any action he and his Department are considering, and engagements he has had with the retail banking sector and Central Bank, to promote switching and the reintegration of mortgage borrowers with loans held by vulture funds into the mainstream mortgage market. [30181/23]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Real Estate Investment Trusts (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 124. To ask the Minister for Finance for an update on his Department’s review of the IREF and REIT tax regimes; his views on whether IREFs and REITs are paying sufficient tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30177/23]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: 135. To ask the Minister for Finance to provide an update on his engagement with Revenue with respect to the current tax rules regarding the importation of vehicles from Britain and the North and their impact on North-South trade and the domestic motor vehicle market. [30179/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I thank the Minister for coming before the finance committee to discuss this issue. I understand he will also take questions on the national children’s hospital. Starting with the secondment and to clarify, the report found that the Secretary General, namely, Robert Watt, bypassed all acceptable protocols for research funding in committing €2 million of taxpayers’...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister accept that finding?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: There is a divergence between the Minister and the Secretary General and that is fine. We have asked people in this committee for their opinion, they gave their opinion and I value that. He is entitled to his opinion on that. The Minister said he would implement the recommendations of the report in full. Has he determined that all secondments from the Department of Health, the HSE and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Within the Department of Health, there are still secondments of more than five years. Is that what Mr. Mooney is telling me?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Are they often for an indefinite period, that is, secondments that have no end dates?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Is it the proposal that there will be a timeframe for all of these secondments?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Has the Minister reviewed the existing process for approval and sign-off? The Secretary General kept the Minister in the dark and felt that he did not need to tell him about committing €2 million of funding in breach of all the protocols that exist for research funding and aligned that €2 million funding with one individual, which should never happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: To be fair to me, and perhaps I articulated it wrongly, with which part in my question does the Minister disagree? Is it that the Secretary General breached all protocols, that he assigned it to one person and that should never have happened or that he allocated €2 million of taxpayers’ money? I am wondering which part of the question-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: This is significant. Now the Minister is disputing the findings of this report. When he disputes that it was committed to, the conclusions in section 5.4 are clear, stating: "The substantial proposed funding commitment of €2 million a year until the retirement of the Chief Medical Officer, by-passed all of the accepted protocols." Is the Minister challenging the report when he told...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister accept that it was committed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: A clear distinction has now opened up where the Minister is disputing a finding and conclusion from this report when he said earlier that this funding was not committed. He said that it was promised, not committed. I ask the Minister to clarify that. It is one of the five conclusions that have been reached. It was committed and was atypically linked to one named individual. I need...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister accept that the funding was committed?